In this blog post I will be talking about my interview. I got a lot of information from my interview. I interviewed Douglas Vermes, a computer science teacher at the Scarsdale High School. Before I talk about how my interview went, I want to tell you about the preparation of my interview questions. Creating my interview questions was a trial and error process. I wrote the first draft of my questions, had them checked over, and then I was told I needed to redo them. My questions just weren’t that strong. So, we redid them, and they came out really good. See for yourself: (The question that isn’t bulleted is my sub questions).

What is coding?
 What is coding?
 How did coding languages evolve over time?
 Why are there so many coding languages in use?

How does the computer understand the code you are giving it?
 What are the components in the computer that understand the code?
 How do the parts take the code and turn it into an action?
 How does the way the code is written affect how efficiently and easily the computer can carry out the actions?

How has coding already transformed our everyday lives?
 What were some of the earliest ways coding has changed our everyday lives?
 What were some of the recent or current ways coding has changed our everyday lives?
 Are there ways that we all are coding in our everyday lives that we don’t even realize?

How has coding been used already to solve some of our world’s big problems?
 How has coding advanced the field of medicine?
 How has coding aided law enforcement?
 How has coding allowed us to address global issues like food supply and clean water?

How might coding be used in the future to solve big problems?
 What are some likely big problems that coding could address in the future?
 What do you think it will take to make this happen?
 What can today’s computer science students do to position themselves to work on big problems in the future?

The interview went great. It helped me get to the point I’m at now. I got some diagrams and papers to help me. My logic was that if my interviewee answered the three questions that go under my sub questions, I would be able to answer them. Then I could use all of the answers that I got for my sub questions and use them to answer my main inquiry question. In my next blog, I will be talking about my site visit at the middle school. So stay tuned for that.