The impact of providing project choices in CS1

ABSTRACT

CS educators are constantly faced with the challenge of engaging students who have neither the interest nor skill level necessary to succeed in an introductory course. One potential solution is to allow students to choose their projects from a set of comparable alternatives, each of which represents a different problem domain. This paper reports on the results of a two-year study designed to measure the impact of project choice on student outcomes in a CS1-style course for non-majors. The results suggest that the gender plays a major role in both the projects chosen and student outcomes.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
CS1, choice, gender, non-majors, pedagogy