Using scratch/BYOB to create a project-based introduction to computer science
John Pais · 2013
This workshop will provide a hands-on guided tour of a one-semester Computing I course designed to provide an introduction to computer science for high school students. In this course computational thinking is learned using Scratch and BYOB to create interactive stories, animations, and games. The emphasis is on stimulating students to use their imagination to naturally pose computational problems that arise in their efforts to create a project of their own design. Using Scratch, the project assignments in the first half of the course introduce elementary programming language constructs, and then gradually lead to encapsulated procedures, objects, lists, recursion, and trees, using BYOB in the second half of the course. The workshop participants will receive an overview of Scratch and BYOB in the context of the course, as well as course mechanics and assessment details including the syllabus, quizzes, storyboards, and project rubrics.