Abstract
The emphasis on Java and other commercial languages in CS1 has established the perception of computer science as a dry and technically difficult discipline among undecided students who are still seeking careers. This may not be a big problem during an enrolment boom, but in times of decreased enrolment such negative perception may have a devastating effect on computer science programs and therefore should not be ignored. We have made our CS1 course offerings more attractive to students (1) by introducing an easy to learn yet effective scripting language - Python, (2) by making all course resources available in a comprehensive online study pack, and (3) by offering an extensive set of detailed and easy to follow self-guided labs. Our custom-designed online study pack comprises a wealth of new, original learning modules: extensive e-texts, detailed self-guided labs, numerous sample programs, quizzes, and slides. Our recent student survey demonstrates that students like and prefer Python as a first language and that they also percept the online study pack as very beneficial. Our "Python First" course, originally required for computer science majors, has been so well received that it has been recently approved as a general education science elective, thus opening new recruitment opportunities for the computer science major. Our "Python First" digital pack is published online at http://studypack.com.
- Kelleher C., R. Pausch. Lowering the barriers to programming: A taxonomy of programming environments and languages for novice programmers. ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 37, Issue 2 (June 2005), 83 -- 137. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lahtinen E., Ala-Mutka K., Järvinen H-M. A study of the difficulties of novice programmers. ITiCSE'05 (Caparica, Portugal), 14--18. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Mahmoud, Q., W. Dobosiewicz, D. Swayne. Redesigning introductory computer programming with HTML, JavaScript, and Java. SIGCSE'04 (Norfolk, Virginia), 120 -- 124. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Radenski, A. Introduction to Computing with Python. http://www.studypack.com.Google Scholar
- Radenski, A. Object-Oriented Computing with Java. http://www.studypack.com.Google Scholar
- Rossum G. van. Computer programming for everybody. http://www.python.org/doc/essays/cp4e.htmlGoogle Scholar
- Shannon C. Another breadth-first approach to CS 1 using Python. SIGCSE'03 (Reno, Nevada), 248--251. Google ScholarDigital Library
- The TeachScheme! Project. http://www.teach-scheme.org/.Google Scholar
- TIOBE Software. TIOBE programming community index. http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htmGoogle Scholar
- Zelle J. Python as a first language. http://mcsp.wartburg.edu/zelle/python/python-first.html.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- "Python first": a lab-based digital introduction to computer science
Recommendations
Online python tutor: embeddable web-based program visualization for cs education
SIGCSE '13: Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science educationThis paper presents Online Python Tutor, a web-based program visualization tool for Python, which is becoming a popular language for teaching introductory CS courses. Using this tool, teachers and students can write Python programs directly in the web ...
"Python first": a lab-based digital introduction to computer science
ITICSE '06: Proceedings of the 11th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science educationThe emphasis on Java and other commercial languages in CS1 has established the perception of computer science as a dry and technically difficult discipline among undecided students who are still seeking careers. This may not be a big problem during an ...
Engaging Programming Assignments to Recruit and Retain CS0 Students: (Abstract Only)
SIGCSE '18: Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science EducationMany universities offer an optional CS0 course taken prior to traditional CS1 and CS2 courses. Students enrolling in CS0 represent a variety of programming experience levels and majors. To more successfully recruit students to CS0 and retain students as ...
Comments