A CS1 maze lab, using joysticks and MIPPETs

Stone, Don C.; Bergmann, Seth; Baliga, Ganesh; Berman, A. Michael; Schmalzel, John

doi:10.1145/299649.299743

“…Li's course on Software Models for Embedded Systems has similar objectives but focuses specifically on embedded systems 4 . The course at Rowan University is a CS1 course (focusing on object oriented programming) but does include some hardware; students are reported to like the projects 5 .…”

Section: Proceedings Of the 2002 American Society For Engineering Education Annual Conference And Expositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Event Driven Computing Projects For Software Engineering Education

Skubic

¹

,

Laffey

²

2002 Annual Conference Proceedings

0

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There is a growing need in the software industry for the development of systems with a dynamic, event-driven behavior, such as interactive human-computer interfaces, client-server architectures, and embedded systems. Developing successful, event-driven software requires a paradigm shift from traditional program development, and new curriculum approaches are needed to help computer science and engineering students develop competencies. In this paper, we describe an effort to address this problem through hands-on projects that provide experience in developing dynamic, event-driven systems and let the students physically see the results of their efforts. We describe our project testbed and exercises, based on the smart home theme, and report our experiences with using the testbed in an actual course setting. Although the proof of concept is being evaluated in a software engineering course, the project theme and testbed could be used in other computer-related courses, such as object-oriented programming, embedded systems, or even a first level computer science course.

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Pre-games

Giguette

¹

2003

Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

16

0

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Many CS1 and CS2 instructors have been using game-like assignments and manipulatives to increase student understanding of abstract concepts. A related approach described in this paper requires students to play a game-like version of each assignment (referred to as the "pre-game") before designing and coding their own programs. Students complete a prototype of the pre-game that uses simpler I/O but otherwise follows the same specification. By playing the pre-game, students become familiar with lesson principles using a concrete example that combines the advantages of both game-play and manipulatives. Ideally, the pre-game creates an environment that both encourages experimentation, and allows students to use their intuition when designing algorithms and data structures.

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Pre-games

Giguette

¹

2003

SIGCSE Bull.

6

0

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Many CS1 and CS2 instructors have been using game-like assignments and manipulatives to increase student understanding of abstract concepts. A related approach described in this paper requires students to play a game-like version of each assignment (referred to as the "pre-game") before designing and coding their own programs. Students complete a prototype of the pre-game that uses simpler I/O but otherwise follows the same specification. By playing the pre-game, students become familiar with lesson principles using a concrete example that combines the advantages of both game-play and manipulatives. Ideally, the pre-game creates an environment that both encourages experimentation, and allows students to use their intuition when designing algorithms and data structures.

show abstract

A CS1 maze lab, using joysticks and MIPPETs

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

Event Driven Computing Projects For Software Engineering Education

Event Driven Computing Projects For Software Engineering Education

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