Using Alice in a Computer Science Survey Course
Jill E. Courte, Elizabeth V. Howard, Cathy Bishop‐Clark · 2006
Students in an introductory computer science survey course for non-majors used the 3-D interactive programming environment Alice for their programming module. With Alice, students create animated worlds using a variety of objects and easily accessed programming constructs. Alice has previously been used successfully to provide a gentle introduction to computer programming in a fun and enjoyable way, and has been shown to increase retention in computer programming courses. However, use of Alice appears to be limited as there is little to be found in the literature regarding its use in information technology courses. This lack of data prompted a study to determine if Alice is a suitable tool to introduce computer programming to non-majors in a friendly and inclusive way. This paper reports on the use of Alice with approximately 100 students enrolled in a nonmajors computer science course. Students were surveyed about their attitudes toward computer programming before and after using Alice. Descriptive data indicate that Alice does increase student enjoyment and promote positive attitudes toward programming.