Fostering a creative interest in computer science

Abstract

In this paper, we describe activities undertaken at our university to revise our computer science program to develop an environment and curriculum which encourages creative, hands-on learning by our students. Our main changes were the development of laboratory space, increased hands-on problem solving activities in the introductory course, open-ended programming projects in the early courses including a requirement of an open-ended project extension for an A grade, and the integration of a seminar into the senior project requirement. Our results suggest that these changes have improved student skill and willingness to deal with new problems and technologies. An additional surprising side-effect appears to be a dramatic increase in retention over the first two years, despite lower overall grade averages in those courses.