June 2008 — News
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Alice Offers Gentler Intro to Programming
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Ask just about any computer science teacher, and he or she will recite the same facts: We aren't pulling enough students into computer science; girls and minorities are woefully underrepresented; and drop-out rates in college from computer science are atrocious.
For example, a 2007 study by the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) found that girls participate in alarmingly small numbers in science- and technology-related studies--and that number grows ever smaller as girls advance through K12 and into post-secondary education. Of female students who took the SAT in 2006, only 1 percent were interested in pursuing a major in computer and information sciences.
Extra Credit Alice is a free, open-source programming language developed by researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University. Course materials for teaching Alice, made available at no charge by Carnegie-Mellon, are available at aliceprogramming.net. Teachers who register at the site can access materials with exercise solutions and lesson plans. |
At Princess Anne High School, a public high school in Virginia Beach, VA, a graphical programming language called Alice seems to be offering a solution.
For the second year, Virginia Beach is using Alice to help teach its introductory programming course. The course includes students from ninth graders to seniors, with a prerequisite of geometry, which generally means eligible students have two years of high school math behind them, explained John Harrison, who teaches advanced placement computer science and statistics at Princess Anne.
Before introducing Alice, the district was using C++ in its introductory course. Like most programming languages, C++ is syntax-intensive, meaning that tiny errors in punctuation or spelling can bring even the simplest program to a screeching halt. "Not only do you have to spell the words correctly, but you need to put the punctuation in the right spot," Harrison said. "You need to put semicolons at the end of every line. You need to match up your parentheses...." All of that can easily frustrate a beginning programmer.
