A CIS faculty team comprising Cornell CS Professor Andrew Myers, Information Science Professor François Guimbretière, and Information Science Assistant Professor René Kizilcec received a grant from Engaged Cornell for a program entitled “Teaching Programming Through Games.”
As the team notes: “Teaching a broad audience of students basic programming skills that they can apply in new contexts isn’t easy. Most online courses and interactive games foster engagement, but they fall short of creating robust learning outcomes.” As a result, “[r]ethinking current approaches to programming education is urgently needed.”
“To engage youth and improve their access to computer science education, this project team has developed a web-based game that teaches fundamental concepts of computational thinking.” At present, the project team is “partnering with the Sciencenter [in Ithaca] and New York State 4-H to test and further develop the game,” and “making sure it is accessible to the broadest audience possible.”
Related work: Kizilcec is the director of the Cornell Future of Learning Lab.