CS1 Community Site

Promoting your High School Computer Science Courses

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Whether it's to boost enrollment or improve diversity, I would like to hear how other teachers are promoting their computer science courses.

Welcome to CS1!

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Welcome to the CS1 community forum. 
The CS1 group has specific content types: Textbook Post, Language Post, Teaching Strategy, Syllabus, and Software/Other Resources.  You can create a post of any of these types, directly, in the CS1 group.
This forum is intended for other types of postings.  You are welcome to post, or to respond to existing posts, here.

Squeak: Learn Programming with Robots Review

Textbook Title: 

Squeak: Learn Programming with Robots

Post

    • Easy to Read
Textbook Author(s): 
Stephane Ducasse

Learn to Program with Phrogram Review

Textbook Title: 

Learn to Program with Phrogram

Post

    • Text is pretty limited 
Textbook Edition: 
1st
Textbook Author(s): 
John Schwartz, Walt Morrison, David Witus
Textbook Year: 
2007
Textbook Publisher: 
Addison-Wesley Professional

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python Review

Textbook Title: 

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python

 Post

Textbook Edition: 
1st
Textbook Author(s): 
Allen Downey, Jeff Elkner and Chris Meyers
Textbook Publisher: 
Green Tea Press

HtDPTextbook Review

Textbook Title: 

How to Design Programs:  An Introduction to Programming and Computing

  • Curriculum is built around the idea of proper Design.
  • The Preface offers 6 steps in
Textbook Author(s): 
Matthias Felleisen, Robert Bruce Findler, Matthew Flatt, Shriram Krishnamurthi
Textbook Year: 
2003
Textbook Publisher: 
The MIT Press

Harvey Mudd College Introductory CS Curriculum

This is a great breadth-first multi-paradigm introduction to computer science using Python.

Syllabus Author: 
Harvey Mudd College
Syllabus Degree Program: 
Both cs majors and non-majors

Building Java Programs:  A Back to Basics Approach Review

Textbook Title: 

Building Java Programs:  A Back to Basics Approach

    • Easy to read. 
    • Good explanations of vocabulary and concepts.
Textbook Edition: 
1st
Textbook Author(s): 
Stuart Reges and Marty Stepp
Textbook Year: 
2007
Textbook Publisher: 
Addison Wesley

Introduction to Computing and Programming with Java:  A Multimedia Approach Review

Textbook Title: 

Introduction to Computing and Programming with Java:  A Multimedia Approach

From the Preface:

Textbook Author(s): 
Mark Guzdial and Barbara Ericson
Textbook Year: 
2006
Textbook Publisher: 
Prentice Hall

Introduction to Computing and Algorithms Review

Textbook Title: 

Introduction to Computing and Algorithms

From the back cover:

Textbook Author(s): 
Russel L Shackelford
Textbook Year: 
1997
Textbook Publisher: 
Addison Wesley

CS Promotional Videos

       
Resource Title: 
Why Choose CSE?
Resource Source: 
University of Washington

Scratch

Language Name: 
Scratch
    • From the website scratch.mit.edu:

Alice

Language Name: 
Alice
    • From the website Alice.org:

Karel the Robot

Syllabus Author: 
Richard E. Pattis, Joseph Bergin

The Journal for Computing Teachers (JCT)

Resource Title: 
JCT
Resource Source: 
ISTE

SIGCSE

Resource Title: 
SIGCSE
Resource Source: 
ACM

Attending the AP Reading

I attended the AP Reading as a Reader in both 2006 and 2007 and just wanted to write about what a positive experience it was.  The AP Reading lists among its participants a roughly even split of both high school and college level educators.  There are textbook authors, workshop leaders, AP Exam developers, as well as about 100 other participants who are all passionate about computer science education.  The interaction between the participants is really my main reason for attending.  The added bonus is the fact that we get to learn precisely how the AP exam is graded whic

Resource Title: 
AP Reading
Resource Source: 
College Board and ETS

CS4HS at CMU

I attended this workshop in 2006 and feel as though I am still thriving off the energy and information that was offered at this great event.  I and dozens of other k-12 teachers were presented with a wealth of fascinating lectures and activities provided by some of CMU’s more prominent professors and researchers as well as others from Google, and elsewhere.  Topics ranged from Computational Thinking, to CS Unplugged, to broadening participation in our cs classrooms, to lessons in using food to teach great ideas in CS.  We learned about computational biology, careers and

Resource Title: 
CS4HS
Resource Source: 
CMU

Javabat Website

I considered this website a personal gift as I discovered it just weeks before my students were scheduled to take their AP Computer Science exams.  This site (created by Nick Parlante at Stanford) provides students with dozens of great practice problems with immediate feedback concerning all possible test cases and which were successfully handled and which were not.  It has exercises in Recursion, Arrays, Strings, Logic, and even a section based on AP CS free response questions from years past.  Great for homework, in the lab, as lecture examples, or for self-study.  Now

Resource Title: 
Javabat

Nifty Assignments Website

This is a great website for educators looking for extra (and fun) programming assignments.

Resource Title: 
Nifty Assignments
Resource Source: 
nifty.stanford.edu

CSTA Website

CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) is a fairly new organization that is steadily growing more relevant for K-12 computer science education.  They provide curricula, research, videos, posters, and much more.  Check out their website!

Resource Title: 
CSTA Website
Resource Source: 
ACM/CSTA

CMU Summer Java Workshop for APCS Teachers

For many years this workshop has been one of the highlights of my summer vacation.  The workshop presenters Mark Stehlik (Teaching Professor at CMU and former Chief Reader for the APCS exam), Don Slater (Lecturer at CMU and consultant to the APCS Exam reading since 1990), and Judy Hromcik (former member of the APCS Development Committee) have continually done a fantastic job providing new and relevant material year after year for AP computer science teachers.  Located on the awe-inspiring campus of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA, this workshop has been a draw for many interesti

Resource Title: 
CMU Summer Java Workshop for APCS Teachers

Sign up for the AP Computer Science Listserv/Digest/Electronic Discussion Group (EDG)

When I started teaching AP Computer Science for the first time I felt isolated in my high school.  While other teachers had other teachers to talk to about how best to approach a given topic or lesson, I felt that not only was I the only computer science teacher in the building, I soon realized that I was the only person in the building who knew anything at all about computer science in general.  Having this discussion group to read through every morning and to send the occasional question to, was a godsend and provided me with a wealth of materials, ideas, workshops, and connecti

Resource Title: 
The AP Computer Science Listserv/Digest/Electronic Discussion Group (EDG)
Resource Source: 
AP Central (College Board)

Computer Science Unplugged

Computer Science Unplugged is a series of learning activities that reveals a little-known secret: computer science isn't really about computers at all!
Unplugged teaches principles of computer science such as binary numbers, algorithms and data compression through games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around.

Resource Title: 
CS Unplugged
Resource Source: 
Mike Fellows, Tim Bell, Ian Witten

The BlueJ Development Environment

The BlueJ environment was developed as part of a university research project about teaching object-orientation to beginners. The system is being developed and maintained by a joint research group at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, and the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. The project is supported by Sun Microsystems.

Resource Title: 
BlueJ
Resource Source: 
Deakin University, University of Kent

Achieving Gender Equity in the High School CS Classroom

I found that the simple acting of writing a promotional letter for the introduction to CS course and mailing it to all the students (both male and female) that performed well in either Geometry or Algebra II increased not only the quality of my students but more impressively, it almost completely evened out the gender ratio in my classrooms.  I went from having around 20% female students to just under 50%.

Strategy Degree Program: 
High School

Reasons for Choosing Python

Language Name: 
Python
    • Originally designed for education
    • Simple syntax (no semicolons or curly braces)
    • Forced Indentation

Lois Delcambre’s Intro Course from Spring ‘09

 
 

Syllabus Author: 
Lois Delcambre
Syllabus Degree Program: 
Both cs majors and non-majors