The paper argues for the use of the "case study" approach to educating and training software engineers. After discussing problems in software engineering education and introducing the fundamentals of case study teaching, the paper describes a project to develop a comprehensive and complete case study, called the DigitalHome (DH) system, which involves the development of "smart house" technology by a national retail chain serving the needs of home owners. Thus far the following has been developed: marketing documents, project launch material, a project plan, an SRS, and a set of scene-setting and problemsolving scenarios. The case study will eventually consist of a complete set of life-cycle artifacts, a realistic description of the people and events that are part of the DH development, and a set of exercises that are designed to involve students in the solutions of software engineering problems associated with the DH development.
Computational thinking (CT) does not require profound knowledge of computer science (CS). Vice versa, it helps students organize and build up new knowledge around the core CS concepts they encounter on the daily basis. Furthermore, CT provides a set of problem-solving skills and enhances analytical abilities that are crucial for the young generation to succeed in modern world pervaded with technology. Teaching the principles of computing to students with non-computing tracks of study provides them with a competitive advantage and breaks down stereotypes around CS. Our approach is to introduce a topic related to world issues and students' interests while concealing its relation to CS until students' interest and attention are captured. The approach takes advantage of pattern-matching abilities that are naturally wired in our brain to improve understanding and make the obtained knowledge persist in memory. The paper discusses some of the modules developed as part of the Inspire-CT project that can be delivered in one or part of a class period at high school or middle school.
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