PRIMM

PRIMM is also an instructional approach building off the Use → Modify → Create strategy and the Block Model. Much like TIPP & SEE, it emphasizes reading and understanding code before writing. PRIMM is also an acronym for the stages that it structures learning activities in: Predict, Run, Investigate, Modify, Make.

Predict We start by presenting students with a prepared program, and the students try to predict what it will do. This works well as a think-pair-share or small groups activity, as discussion between students can enhance learning.

Run Then the students test their predictions by executing the program. Discussion can be used to help students verbalize the results and compare it with their predicted expectations.

Investigate The investigation stage is based on the Block Model, and can include activities like code tracing, explaining, annotating, debugging, etc.

Modify This stage is very similar to the Modify stage of Use - Modify - Create, and involves modifying the code they have just investigated to accomplish a related task. During this stage, the scaffolding support is gradually removed.

Make In this stage, learners are given a new problem to solve that uses the same ideas and skills introduced in earlier stages.