Introduction to Computer Science with Robotics

Traditional introductory computer science courses are heavily focused on teaching programming, so much so that the general public considers computer science and programming synonymous. While this pedagogical strategy is effective at laying a strong foundation for programming skills, it creates curricula which do little to motivate students. Programming exercises rarely incorporate real-world data. Additionally, while many traditional programming curricula are cumulative in terms of programming content, they rarely maintain themes across the semester. Robotics can be used as a tool for major change in this area, presenting an exciting and physically embodied application of programming, and enabling students to solve the sorts of practical, real world problems that they will face in their careers.

We are in the process of developing a curriculum for the Introduction to Computer Science (CS1) course taught at two and four year colleges which will use robots as interactive tools to highlight concepts and motivate students. Our approach is to insert robotics without overly changing the underlying course. To this end, we have extensively studied the current Computer Science class. Our survey of 34 university professors of Computer Science across the United States yielded important logistical information, as well as informing our design efforts and proving to us that robotics would be accepted by a significant number of educators. We have identified, through a study of ten popular textbooks used in CS1, six major concepts which are covered by all of these textbooks, and are developing independent curricular modules for each concept. In this way, we believe our curricular design can have the broadest impact, as they will be suited to most current CS1 classes, regardless of their course schedule.

In addition to these studies, we are working closely with two Community College professors of CS1. These partners are essential to keeping our efforts grounded in the realities of the classroom environment, as well as for helping us design engaging and creative assignments. We have developed a software framework ideally suited to novice programmers; the structure of which creates several layers of deepening complexity, such that as the students learn they can expand their capabilities. You can view this framework on the software page under MyFirstRobot. Next we will begin to create lesson plans and assignments, which will be posted to this page. Watch this space for more material over the next several months!