pBot: AN ACTIVE AND ACCELERATED INTRODUCTION TO PROGRAMMING USING MOBILE DEVICES

摘要

In this paper, we describe a new approach for introducingrnthe principles of programming to students. Students inrnintroductory CS courses (CS0/CS1) often have minimalrnexposure to or experience with programming and mayrnstruggle for weeks while creating their initial programs.rnWe present a tool called pBot, which is designed tornprovide a guided and highly interactive introduction tornprogramming. pBot consists of a custom teachingrnlanguage, an IDE designed for iPod touches, and arnsimulator that allows for a robot to explore andrnmanipulate its world. This paper deals with motivationrnfor creating pBot, its features, how it has been used in ourrnintroductory classes, and feedback we have received on itsrnuse.