Past Lectures: Case introduction

Comments from Dr. Hannemann

1. What prompted you decide to participate in the "JSPS Science Dialogue" program?

I very much enjoy teaching and was thrilled by the opportunity to give a talk at a local high school. It is an excellent chance for students to not only be exposed to a foreign researcher, but to gain insights into an interesting topic besides what's in their curriculum, and to practice their English skills. In addition, I was intrigued by the challenges to convey such an abstract topic as programming language research to students who have just a basic understanding of how computers.

2. To what did you give greatest attention in preparing and giving the lecture?

My main focus in preparing the lecture was to take into account the student's background. As a researcher, my talks are usually in front of an expert audience, while these students have only very little to no expertise in the area. It is also essential to understand that children/teenagers learn differently and thus require a different kind of talk altogether, with lost of examples and visual aids to help illustrate key concepts.
To address these problems, I developed a talk that was a combination of lecture (to convey the necessary background information) and practical (programming) exercises, in which I encouraged the students to compete for the fastest and nicest solutions. The format of my talk turned out to be very effective and engaging, and was very well received.

3. Did you find it difficult to give a lecture in English to Japanese students? Could you give some advice to future lecturers on how to facilitate communication with Japanese students?

I found it to be of tremendous help to have my host occasionally translate key points of my talk. It also facilitated taking questions from students in the subsequent discussion section. In my case, the students had some English knowledge, but little practice listening to or speaking it. I found it to be very helpful to have prepared a glossary of the most important terms and their English translations, to be handed out to students before the talk Of course, you should keep in mind the things that make every lecture better: speak slowly and clearly (and adjust the lecture for that), create good, clear slides (only key points, not too much text, many visual aids and simple examples), and occasionally summarize what you have already done, what you are doing next, and how it fits into the whole talk.

4. Could you give your impression with regard to participating in this program?

I enjoyed participating in the program very much, and I found both the challenge of preparing a talk for high school students and giving it very rewarding. In particular, I was very excited to see that students were not only interested in the subject matter, but also highly motivated to do the (programming) exercises I prepared. Based on the insightful questions at the end of the talk and the fact that many students chose to spend the subsequent break experimenting with more complex programs, I believe it was a success for the students as well. I do recommend being aware of the differences between giving a research talk at a conference and a lecture in the context of this program. Not only do the participants have hardly any background in the field, it is also very possible that essential tools/machines won't work. For example, in my first visit to this high school a year ago, the teacher in charge was not able to set up the student's computers with the programming environment that needed for the students' exercises. It helps tremendously to be prepared for such a contingency and to bring appropriate material. In my case, I had printouts of the exercises prepared so that the students could do the 'programming' on paper.

5. Was it meaningful in terms of your fellowship activities?

Of course, the talk was on a completely different level than my research, so I did not gain additional insights into my area of specialization. However, I found this talk to be an excellent opportunity to consider my area of research from a different perspective and I have learned a lot about presenting it to non-experts. It was also very interesting to discuss the talk and the general approach with my host, and it turned out to be an interesting activity to do together outside of research.

6. In what ways do you think the students benefited from the program?

The students that came to my talk got an overview of how computers work, even those in small electronic devices like cell phones and rice cookers. Most importantly, I wanted to convey the complexity of programming languages and how research helps developers overcome it.
I believe that the students benefited greatly from the programming exercises, which gave them first-had experience with computer programming. As I mentioned before, many students used their free time to further experiment with their programs, which I take as an indication that they enjoyed it. I also think that the students now can make a better informed decision if they are considering a degree in computer science at some point.
Besides that, the exposure to a foreigner who speaks a different language is an interesting challenge, both intellectually and culturally.

7. Could you give some overall advice or comments to future participants in the program?

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the target audience is children/teenagers, who—albeit being very clever—have likely no background in your area of expertise (confirm with the teacher). It is essential for a good talk to take that into account and:

• Create simple slides with little text; avoid complex formulas and definitions; keep in mind that you don't need much technical depth for this talk. Rather, focus on something fun and exciting for students
• Use as much visual aids as you can. Also, use plenty of simple examples that the students can relate to.
• Practice your talk, speaking slowly and clearly, and allowing time for questions and clarifications. This helps to avoid misjudging the time and having to rush through the talk.
• If you need to use technical terms, prepare a glossary of them with their Japanese translations and hand it out before the lecture
• Be prepared for technical problems. Bring printouts for the case you can't use a projector.
• Consider telling the student a little about yourself—hey've likely not had much experience with foreigners. For example, a few slides from your home country can be very interesting, especially if you can contrast the local customs with Japanese ones. Again, use lots of visual aids (pictures).