Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

The Beauty and Joy of Computing. UC Berkeley’s CS Breadth Course Designed to be non-intimidating to students in non-technical majors. But also designed.

Similar presentations


Presentation on theme: "The Beauty and Joy of Computing. UC Berkeley’s CS Breadth Course Designed to be non-intimidating to students in non-technical majors. But also designed."— Presentation transcript:

1 The Beauty and Joy of Computing

2 UC Berkeley’s CS Breadth Course Designed to be non-intimidating to students in non-technical majors. But also designed to preserve all the deep CS ideas from our previous all- programming zero-level course: –Functional programming –Recursion –Higher Order Functions

3 Connect computing to society Kids (especially girls) are said to consider programming geeky, solitary work.... but they all love cell phones, games, and social networking! The course includes discussion of social applications of computers and the Internet. We balance a fundamental optimism about computing with a critical examination of each specific technology.

4 Blown to Bits The main source of readings in the course. Like all course materials, the entire book is available free online! http://bitsbook.com

5 Scratch is non-intimidating...

6 ... but doesn’t support recursive functions. Also, no lists of lists, so no complex data structures. As a result, other breadth courses (e.g., at Harvard) teach Scratch for a week, then switch to some more intimidating language. We wanted to have our cake and eat it too. –No typing skill required. –Compelling visual metaphors for deep ideas.

7 (Build Your Own Blocks) by Jens Mönig

8 Collaboration with. We’re university faculty, not HS teachers! o (although I was a HS teacher 1979-82) BJC is a big success at Berkeley. o (and half women!) BJC has also been great for some CS-savvy HS teachers who are happy inventing materials and lesson plans on the fly. But in order to take over the world, we’re collaborating with curriculum professionals to create a BJC ready to run in any high school. What we have for 2015-16 is a first pass.


Download ppt "The Beauty and Joy of Computing. UC Berkeley’s CS Breadth Course Designed to be non-intimidating to students in non-technical majors. But also designed."

Similar presentations


Ads by Google