"The Beauty and Joy of Computing" is a computer science course for undergraduate non-majors that combines a deep programming experience with lectures, readings, and discussions about nonprogramming topics such as the social context of computing and the future and limitations of computing. The course is designed to appeal to a wide range of students, including women and underrepresented minorities. The programming half of the course uses BYOB, an extension to Scratch adding first class procedures, lists, and objects. The course has been chosen as one of the pilots for a coming (2016) high school Advanced Placement exam. Our current work includes further curriculum development, an NSF-funded teacher preparation program, and the implementation of SNAP!, a new browser-based version of BYOB. |
