First, I want to say thanks to SmertBear Software Quality Matters Blog for publishing a question I've long wanted to see addressed. Yesterday, my blog post about what I think needs to be taught to every software tester went live yesterday. In it, I make the case that, before we talk any testing techniques, before we talk any foundational knowledge whatsoever, there needs to be a "Lesson Zero" for all aspiring testers. So what is Lesson Zero? In my mind, Lesson Zero needs to be "What is the Scientific Method?".
I won't rewrite the article here, but suffice it to say that may people come to software testing with little or no knowledge of the scientific method, and I feel it is to their detriment. Thus, I think it would be great to help make a module (I'm thinking SummerQAmp, but by no means limited there), that would help teach what the scientific method is, how to apply it, and how to experiment with it. I've started an initiative over at the AST EdSIG forum to start putting this together. To that end, I would love suggestions as to how to make this engaging, interesting, and easy to understand, without being patronizing or trivial. It's a simple concept on the surface, but as I have seen many times, simple does not mean easy.
In short, if you would like to help shape this, I'd love to talk to you :).
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