Speaking of School: Computer Science

[KickAssClown]

I was wondering what can be done to revitalize a computer science class. We at Butte Community College have an ailing computer science program that is getting cut left and right.

I, as a student, feel I have an obligation to assist the program. The problem in my eyes with the program is that it kills the magic of using computers. Most people go through a greater drop out rate in the CSCI classes than is experienced in math classes.

I believe that what hurts the classes the most is the lack of "fun" and "social involvement". I think it is stupid that we are expected to work on micro projects individually when, as I understand it, out in the business world people work collaboratively on projects; thus, achieving things collectively that no single individual can accomplish by themselves.

What can be done to improve the quality of these classes and the attraction of more students to the program?

PS: What are the standard topics for an "Introduction to Computer Science" class?

[alexander]

Wow, you have a class called "Introduction to Computer Science" ? that's neat....

You need to make computer classes more FUN to make people not drop out.... so here are a few activities i'd do, and how i would structure the class (vague and general)

First class, would be general outline of computer science, this class end would be spent filling out a small questionaire as to what kind of experience people have, also what they think cs is, and very importantly, what they want to learn more about, etc. (that to you, as a teacher will tell what topics you should focus on more and which sections you can mention, but omit going into deeply)

Also from this point on, once you choose the topics, come up with people that are interested in areas you are going to discuss, and always engage class in discussions, you control where the discussion goes as well as help filter out meaningless and wrong or mythical information.

Second class more detailed look at all the areas of CS and their applications in people's lives (that will generally filter out anyone who didn't want to be in computers, and now youare left with a class of Interested computer people). Remember that here, you should also define KEY CS terms, and stick to them.

By this class, you also have your topic outline that you can then hand out. Try to make sure that the book will explain your topic, but i think that for an intro class, HW should be more research-based then dumb question and answer from the book. Also the engagement in conversations and debates in class, will make it so you can identify people struggling and give you the ability to focus in on their level or comprehension.

From there, follow your outline, create group projects that everyone can do, perhaps at this stage more research-based. Also create in-class project. Like for example, you are talking about programming, buy a dozen boe-bot basic kits, and make a lab for people to write a simple program for the boe-bot to do something, its one thing to see output on the screen, its a totally different thing to see a robot do it (also remember to structure these labs such that people have the ability to play with the "toys")

I would not omit security, and set up a demonstration of an attack that goes through, people like visual things, and certainly those who are interested in security will stick more to the program.

Similarly, hardware, well, don't just ask people to know in basic terms, how a computer operates, have them build one on the bench (detailed instructions are a must)

I think that generally the reason that people drop out of a program is because they have not gotten enough interest in any area of the program, but the people that create a program should understand that the people that get into intro classes, don't do it just because they don't know what to do with their lives, they do it because they have read something, know someone, or saw something interesting on it and decided to see what it's about; so market it, advertise your program, it's not much different from a car, you know, just a bigger investment.

Also remember to always debunk myths that make people think that their future jobs are not as secure as they are in other areas, myths such as all IT work going over seas and stuff like that.

Hope that at least some ideas may be helpful...

[KickAssClown]

To summerize, an "Intro to CSci" should touch on security as demonstration, robotics and programming by hands on (like Vex), hardware exposure by hands on, and net exploration/research by embedded project requirements?

I like the idea of teaching team and/or buddy-based programming practices, so I dig the group/class project ideas.

[alexander]

yes basically the intro to CS class should be a FUN experience of different CS areas, with as much hands on stuff, in as many fields of interest as you can properly cover.

[KickAssClown]

How relevant, do you think, is the History of Computer science to a "Intro to CSCI" class?

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by KickAssClown

How relevant, do you think, is the History of Computer science to a "Intro to CSCI" class?

Extremely!

What almost every discipline does that makes it hard to learn is that those who teach it make such broad assumptions about how much context the students have, when in most cases they have *none*!

Its one thing to learn out of context that "analog computing is complicated," but its extremely useful to learn about various attempts at it over the years (e.g. its early use in ballistics), and how its coming back (in AI).

Its not just important to learn "what" its also important to learn "why" and to understand that that "why" came from lots of useful experience that you can learn from rather than have to repeat the mistakes yourself!

I'd much rather learn the easy way,
Buffy

[alexander]

Yes, absolutely very extremely relevant!

How else would students learn about history's greatest cs woman....?
(Buffy will kill me for this joke, but i kinda hope she just takes it litely...or at least spares my life in the end.)

No, with all seriousness, the history of computing is as important to CS as the history of the Roman Empire to Theology, not saying you should spend a semester learning it in the intro class, but i think its a course commonly lacking in CS programs, Computing History...

[KickAssClown]

I've developed an outline of a Intro to Computer Science Course. I would to share it with the wonderful people of hypography to look at and critique. I hope that with some discussion it can be filled out to requist detail.

Take a Look Here.

This is a topical outline based on feedback from this thread, students I've talked to and personal reflection. Ideally, this class is suitable to be taught at the High School Level (or lower).

I Appreciate the tips, insights and feedback, Alex and Buffy (by alphabetic, of course ),
-Ian

[Buffy]

If you're going to mention Babbage, you have to mention Augusta Ada King, Lady Lovelace, who was arguably more important than Charlie: what's hardware without software, eh?

No one taking this class will have a clue as to what a "punched card" is, but skipping Jacquard and Hollerith is criminal (but feeds directly into the discussion of "why binary?").

Its also criminal not to mention Turing and von Neumann, especially as a lead in for the explanation of early analog computers that were used in...

You also need a WWII section: US ballistics computations as well as the US and Bletchley Park code-breaking drove huge advances in computer technology.

Also when you get to the "bit-wars" its fun to go through a list of all the odd combinations of bits that people tried (like my fave, the PDP-8, a 12-bit gizmo), and also the ASCII vs. EBCDIC war as an analog to VHS vs. Beta and every other standard that followed in computer technology (anyone remember OSF?).

Oh, and no intro to CS class is complete without making people learn to "

program

" a "CARDIAC" (also here) and while finding one is just about impossible, there's a PD emulator here...

I'll think about it and send you more suggestions...

Stop interrupting my accumulator,
Buffy

[CraigD]

I had an abysmal (or an ideal, depending on ones point of view) formal CS education: basically, beginning in my mid teens and continuing through my early 20s, a series of engineering, math, and science projects that needed computer programs, and whatever education was needed to write those programs, and, in my last two undergrad college years, some independent study classes in subjects like finite and infinite state automata. This latter class involved writing Turing machine state diagrams to do various calculations, and a cursory introduction to Turing and some of the early UTM paper writers. About the same time, Kidder’s “The Soul of a New Machine” came out, and was widely read and liked by computer types, including me. Of course, I’d read GEB a couple of years before, so knew about Ada Lovelace, Babbage, and Jacquard looms, and, along with most of the my local undergrad math/science community, discussed these and its many other themes at length.

The end result for me was an odd, distorted sense of CS history that jumped from the 1800 to 1930 to the 1970s, with hardly anything in between. Not until the mid 1990s did it get much better, as I just filled in bits and pieces of specialized (mostly medical and biotech) industry history, and bits of general history from conversations with better educated folk.

Shasta and Lazere’s “Out of Their Minds” filled in a lot of gaps. I highly recommend it.

I think their approach is a pretty good one for writing a brief overview of CS history suitable for an “intro to” course. OoTMs is simply 15 essays about 15 different famous computer folk, preceded by an introduction and followed by some commentary and speculation.

Regardless of background, people relate well to biographical sketches. So, collect a big pile of more or less famous computer folk, and weed it down to a number that fits your syllabus – in short, tell the history as a series of histories of people.

Not only would such a study potentially yield a good short history for an intro class, it could prove personally enlightening, and even yield a book like Shasta and Lazere’s.