How do I Think?

I am a concrete sequential thinker which according to cgribben.com mean that I am persistent and product oriented. I am practical and detail oriented, a list maker, and a “by the numbers” person. CS thinkers tend to be realistic and process information in an orderly and linear way. The “concrete” perceptual quality means that I register info through my five senses and deal with the present. I tend to not search for hidden meanings but I do make relationships between ideas and concepts.

According to facstaff.gpc.edu, they believe concrete sequential learners work best when they have an orderly quiet environment (which I sometimes have, but more often than not I have music in the b/g). I usually don’t volunteer to be the first at doing anything unless I know the accepted way of doing things. CS thinkers work best when they have exact instructions/examples and receive approval of the work being done. We shine when we can apply ideas in practical hands-on ways.

Based on these definitions I should be studying basic concepts alone but practice concepts with other people. Pairings have definitely reinforced what I’ve learned and improved my coding practices. The biggest struggle for me so far is learning JS. I suspect that if i can get a handle on JS, Ruby shouldn’t be too much a difference. I struggle with coming up with working solutions however, when I work with a partner or see someone else’s solutions I understand why each line of code was written. My thinking style is responsible for this. I like to be able to see/work through tough challenges correctly before I am to solve it on my own. I need to become more fluent in the coding languages and fully understand the purposes of the code. This way I can implement my knowledge into solving coding problems.

Even though I am a CS thinker, I like to believe I have a growth mindset. I am open to new ideas and creative methods. I do like learning new things but with good guidance something I’m sure DBC will not lack. I am a multimodal learner but I know I rely heavily on visual aid/hands-on practice to really learn. My weakest method of learning is hearing. If I was to learn strictly by talks/lectures I would definitely suffer without notes.