Evolving Teaching Python in the Classroom
The Real Python Podcast
Teaching Beginners Now: Balancing Fundamentals and AI
Kelly emphasizes keeping fundamentals for younger students while explaining how AI is introduced gradually into middle school curricula.
How is teaching young students Python changing with the advent of LLMs? This week on the show, Kelly Schuster-Paredes from the Teaching Python podcast joins us to discuss coding and AI in the classroom.
Kelly shares her current thoughts on teaching Python to young students. She stresses that the earliest classes still need to cover the fundamentals. We also discuss how coding instruction is evolving toward reading and reviewing code more than writing it.
Course Spotlight: Building a Python GUI Application With Tkinter
In this video course, you’ll learn the basics of GUI programming with Tkinter, the de facto Python GUI framework. Master GUI programming concepts such as widgets, geometry managers, and event handlers. Then, put it all together by building two applications: a temperature converter and a text editor.
Topics:
- 00:00:00 – Introduction
- 00:01:28 – Starting to use AI in the classroom
- 00:05:17 – How did students react to using NLP and NLTK?
- 00:06:40 – Teaching Python beginners now
- 00:12:31 – Code editor changes with LLM features
- 00:15:25 – Less in-classroom teaching
- 00:16:22 – What sparks interest in coding for students?
- 00:21:14 – Video Course Spotlight
- 00:22:44 – Exploratory robotics
- 00:25:56 – Do you need to struggle to learn?
- 00:32:52 – Working through frustration and the tendency not to read
- 00:36:37 – Mixed feelings on the changes to teaching
- 00:41:19 – Teaching through reading and code reviewing
- 00:45:33 – Lower-level classes are still about fundamentals
- 00:47:47 – Other areas of teaching using AI tools
- 00:51:29 – Improving prompting skills
- 00:54:22 – Using these tools to organize creativity
- 00:54:53 – What AI tools are working for you?
- 00:57:13 – Sharing knowledge and techniques with other teachers
- 01:00:02 – General advice for teachers
- 01:02:03 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
- 01:02:52 – What do you want to learn next?
- 01:03:46 – How can people follow your work online?
- 01:04:10 – Thanks and goodbye
Show Links:
- Teaching Python Podcast
- Code With Mu
- Flint - AI for schools
- Claude
- colab.google
- AI Explorers’ Club 🛶 – Center for Digital Thriving
- Building a Python GUI Application With Tkinter – Real Python
- TensorFlow
- SPIKE™ Prime – STEAM Set - Grades 6 - 8 - LEGO® Education
- Hexapod (robotics) - Wikipedia
- How to Use AI Without Becoming Stupid - Commoncog
- Prompt Cowboy - #1 prompt generator
- Get started with Python in Excel - Microsoft Support
- Episode #186: Exploring Python in Excel
- IBM TechXchange 2025 - Orlando, FL - October 6-9
- Kelly Schuster- Paredes - LinkedIn
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