Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 minutes ago
(Jack Reichelt) When teaching computer science, many students stuggle with the wide variety of concepts. One week you're learning programming, the next you're learning cybersecurity, then you're learning about image file formats. It can be hard to see how these topics are related, or if they even are related!
Without sufficient context, these are just abstract topics, disconnected from reality and from each other, with rote memorisation the only tool at hand to help you get things right on the exam. With context, however, things start to make sense. You understand how the topics relate, how these technologies developed and evolved, and can derive solutions rather than memorising them.
This context – "why" is the technology the way it is? – fundamentally changes how students connect with the subject, but with curriculums so jam packed it can be hard to justify the time to go into this level of detail. I found, however, that when I did cover the "why", I spent less time on revision, more time on discussion, and students had better results.
I want to share with you a few examples of how I did this, what happened when I discussed those in class, and how I go about finding the "why" when I don't already know what it is. Hopefully, I can give you some new tools for your own teaching, and – critically – explain the "why" behind these tools too.
pretalx.com/pycon-au-2025/talk/LFZUZM
python, pycon, australia, programming, conference, technical, developers, panel, sessions, libraries, frameworks, community, sysadmins, students, education, data, science
Videos licensed as CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
PyCon AU is the national conference for the Python programming community, bringing together professional, student and enthusiast developers, sysadmins and operations folk, students, educators, scientists, statisticians, and many others besides, all with a love for working with Python.
Licensed as CC BY-NC-SA - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Produced by Next Day Video Australia: https://nextdayvideo.com.au
Fri Sep 12 09:20:00 2025 at Ballroom 3
(Jack Reichelt) When teaching computer science, many students stuggle with the wide variety of concepts. One week you're learning programming, the next you're learning cybersecurity, then you're learning about image file formats. It can be hard to see how these topics are related, or if they even are related!
Without sufficient context, these are just abstract topics, disconnected from reality and from each other, with rote memorisation the only tool at hand to help you get things right on the exam. With context, however, things start to make sense. You understand how the topics relate, how these technologies developed and evolved, and can derive solutions rather than memorising them.
This context – "why" is the technology the way it is? – fundamentally changes how students connect with the subject, but with curriculums so jam packed it can be hard to justify the time to go into this level of detail. I found, however, that when I did cover the "why", I spent less time on revision, more time on discussion, and students had better results.
I want to share with you a few examples of how I did this, what happened when I discussed those in class, and how I go about finding the "why" when I don't already know what it is. Hopefully, I can give you some new tools for your own teaching, and – critically – explain the "why" behind these tools too.
pretalx.com/pycon-au-2025/talk/LFZUZM
python, pycon, australia, programming, conference, technical, developers, panel, sessions, libraries, frameworks, community, sysadmins, students, education, data, science
Videos licensed as CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
PyCon AU is the national conference for the Python programming community, bringing together professional, student and enthusiast developers, sysadmins and operations folk, students, educators, scientists, statisticians, and many others besides, all with a love for working with Python.
Licensed as CC BY-NC-SA - creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Produced by Next Day Video Australia: https://nextdayvideo.com.au
Fri Sep 12 09:20:00 2025 at Ballroom 3
