Ursula Wolz

Teaching design and project management with lego RCX robots

In traditional CS 1 classes students may not develop an appreciation for the planning process in software development. Current IDEs provide such immediate feedback that students can complete courses without an appreciation for the need to plan in advance and design thoughtfully. The course unit described here took time out from a Java-based CS 1 course to give students practical experience in programming a small robot in a highly restricted setting. Outcomes are described in detail. They are based on instructors notes, and on analysis of both videotaped student demonstrations and student summative essays.

Digital gaming as a vehicle for learning

1. Summary During the past two years there has been a resurgence of interest in how to use digital games (e.g. video games, computer games and simulations) to support instruction in a variety of fields[3,9]. The focus is on how to exploit the rich interactivity of 3-D, multiplayer virtual worlds. Computer science education has, for the most part, taken a different approach: rather than having our students play video games to learn concepts we ask them to build games to learn concepts [2,5,6,7,8]. In the process of building games, students become immersed in gaming. Yet neither the IEEE/ACM CC2001 [1] curricular recommendations, nor the ABET/CAC [4] criteria mention the notion of gaming. This panel addresses the still controversial question of whether gaming is a legitimate component of computing, and if so, where does it fit within the curriculum. Regardless of where or how gaming falls within the curriculum, it is touted as an approach that will be attractive to a diverse audience, thus increasing potential enrollment into more traditional computer science courses. However, implementing a fully robust, modern, visually compelling, multi-player game from scratch as a semester-long project is problematic. The members of this panel will share a range of experiences in how to exploit a game format to meet particular pedagogic goals. The holy grail of modern commercial game design remains the “First Person Shooter,” (FPS) a game in which a character views a 3-D world from a first person, rather than map or textbased perspective, and with weapon (gun) in hand, moves through an interactive story to attain some goal. Typically there is a lot of shooting and consequent blood and guts. The genre, despite its violent roots, supports some of the most sophisticated techniques of computer graphics, animation and visualization. FPS open source game engines also provide compelling vehicles through which to teach good software design including design approaches for agent-based artificial intelligence and peer-to-peer networks. As a group we will each present our views on this controversy and suggest ways in which FPS can leave its violent roots in a manner similar to how the “kill text” button in early text editors became a more benign “cut” or “copy.” There appear to be four approaches to incorporating digital gaming into CS curriculum: (1) to support foundations courses, e.g. CS 1, (2) to provide specialized content at the upper level to prepare students for the gaming and animation industry, (3) to provide a curriculum encompassing thematic approach to CS in order to make CS and game development accessible to a more diverse population, (4) to provide trans-disciplinary experiences for CS students where they learn to interact with experts from other disciplines. A unique aspect of this panel is that all of us have had experience of some sort with all of these approaches. Consequently, the names attached to the sections below reflect a somewhat arbitrary assignment by the moderator. Like any good game, each of us will assume a role and run with it, supporting our assigned character. The format of the session will consists of a brief overview, a short presentation of each approach, a set of challenges to the audience, and hopefully, a lively interactive discussion of the place of gaming in the curriculum.

Starting with scratch in CS 1

1. Summary Scratch [4] is both a social computing environment and a rich programming language with a highly supportive interface. Although originally intended for an audience younger than college freshman, there is growing interest in using Scratch at the undergraduate level as a gentle introduction to hard concepts. David Malan and Henry Leitner first presented their experience teaching Harvard introductory CS courses with Scratch at SIGCSE two years ago [3]. At SIGCSE 08 John Maloney and Ursula Wolz provided the SIGCSE community with an overview of the language and the social computing website. John also presented research results at SIGCSE 08 on the popularity of programming among young people in a community clubhouse setting [4]. The kids preferred to program rather than play computer games. At both Harvard and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) we have seen similar phenomena where the flexibility, simplicity and ease with which students can make their programming experience highly personal in a supportive community, actively engages them in the process of learning to program regardless of ethnicity or gender.

simpleIO: a Java package for novice interactive and graphics programming

This paper describes how to incorporate user interactivity and graphics into a first course in computer science. Problems and alternative solutions are discussed. A Java package called simpleIO that we developed is presented. It allows novice programmers to build simple GUI -based programs while maintaining good design principles. The package includes methods for requesting data from the user including integers, reals, string and Booleans. It also supports simple menus, graphics displays and text file handling.

Computational Thinking and Expository Writing in the Middle School

To broaden participation in computing we need to look beyond traditional domains of inquiry and expertise. We present results from a demonstration project in which interactive journalism was used to infuse computational thinking into the standard curriculum and regular classroom experience at a middle school with a diverse population. Outcomes indicate that we were able to develop positive attitudes about computational thinking and programming among students and teachers who did not necessarily view themselves as “math types.” By partnering with language arts, technology and math teachers at Fisher Middle School, Ewing New Jersey, we introduced the isomorphism between the journalistic process and computational thinking to 7th and 8th graders. An intense summer institute, first with the teachers and then with students recruited from the school, immersed them in the “newsroom of the future” where they researched and wrote news stories, shot and edited video, and developed procedural animations in Scratch to support their storylines. An afterschool club sustained the experience. The teachers adapted interactive journalism and Scratch programming to enrich standard language arts curriculum and are infusing computational thinking in classroom experiences throughout the school.

Problem solving in community: a necessary shift in cs pedagogy

Supporting a workforce that can create, not simply consume, computing technology requires a shift in pedagogy toward problem solving in a gender neutral, culturally and ethnically diverse community. It requires an authentic learning environment in which students solve real problems as a collaborative community with their peers from other disciplines. We report on three pedagogical approaches, namely student selected projects in a CS course, a multidisciplinary project-based course, and courses that partner across disciplines that provide on-demand content.

'scratch' your way to introductory cs

1. SUMMARY Scratch [9, 10] is a media-rich programming environment originally designed to introduce and motivate programming in after-school settings such as the Computer Clubhouse [11, 12]. Programs are constructed by assembling stacks of colorful command blocks that eliminate syntax issues, and encourage exploration. Scratch makes it easy to program projects that users find motivating and empowering, such as animated stories, interactive presentations, and games. Yet since Scratch includes repetition constructs, conditionals, threads, communications, user input, and variables, it also introduces many key computer science ideas. Concepts that are often difficult for novices are easier to understand in Scratch because less is hidden. For example, variables can be made visible, helping the user to immediately understand the effect of operations such as clearing or incrementing that variable. Scratch is also a social computing network via the Scratch web site [9]. This community of programmers encourages a dramatic alternative to traditional lecture, lab-based programming pedagogy [1, 4, 6, 7, 8].

An integrated approach to project management through classic CS III and video game development

We describe how project management and team communication skills are taught and practiced in two experiences. Our CS III course provides a formal introduction and practice in homogenous small group settings. Our new multidisciplinary yearlong video game course provides extensive practice of these skills through the development of a single deliverable (a video game) produced by a large team (an entire class of approximately 20 students). This model can be extended to other institutions very easily.

Computer-mediated communication in collaborative educational settings (report of the ITiCSE '97 working group on CMC in collaborative educational settings)

In educational environments that stress collaboration, the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools can be a source of support as well as a challenge. This paper begins by considering general educational and economic goals and how CMC can be helpful in attaining these goals. A taxonomy of tools for communication and collaboration in education is described. Many sides of the issue are considered, including the roles of teachers and students, problems that can arise and potential solutions, goals and issues of assessment, and software design issues.

Use of laboratories in computer science education: guidelines for good practice: report of the working group on computing laboratories

This paper explores various aspects of the use of laboratories in teaching Computer Science. The foIlowing six topics are discussed in detail: i scope of courses, ii relationship between lecture and lab, iii pedagogy, iv an Internet repository for laboratory materials, v institutional support and vi technology, The first three items deal with content while the last three are concerned with implementation. This document is part of a continuing effort that the authors envision will result in a laboratory development manual.