TY - GEN
T1 - A first introduction to programming for first-year students at a Chinese university using LEGO MindStorms
AU - Liang, Hai Ning
AU - Fleming, Charles
AU - Man, Ka Lok
AU - Tillo, Tammam
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - In this paper, we describe some of our experiences in incorporating LEGO MindStorms into an introductory programming course. There are three distinguishing features of this course. First, it had a large number of students; almost 500 students were enrolled in it and most of them had minimal to no exposure to programming before taking the course. Second, it is taught at a Sino-British university but located in China - that is, the lessons were given in English and the curriculum met both the UK and Chinese standards. Third, the students had varied interests, ranging from engineering to computer science to industrial design. The experiences described in this paper will be useful to educators who are planning to integrate LEGO MindStorms into their teaching of programming to novice students who are from different backgrounds and with varied interests, enrolled in a large class, and who attend a university outside of developed countries.
AB - In this paper, we describe some of our experiences in incorporating LEGO MindStorms into an introductory programming course. There are three distinguishing features of this course. First, it had a large number of students; almost 500 students were enrolled in it and most of them had minimal to no exposure to programming before taking the course. Second, it is taught at a Sino-British university but located in China - that is, the lessons were given in English and the curriculum met both the UK and Chinese standards. Third, the students had varied interests, ranging from engineering to computer science to industrial design. The experiences described in this paper will be useful to educators who are planning to integrate LEGO MindStorms into their teaching of programming to novice students who are from different backgrounds and with varied interests, enrolled in a large class, and who attend a university outside of developed countries.
KW - CS0/CS1 teaching
KW - Introductory programming
KW - LEGO MindStorms
KW - collaborative/group learning
KW - computer science and engineering education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84892632654&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TALE.2013.6654435
DO - 10.1109/TALE.2013.6654435
M3 - Conference Proceeding
AN - SCOPUS:84892632654
SN - 9781467363556
T3 - Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2013
SP - 233
EP - 238
BT - Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2013
T2 - 2013 2nd IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering, TALE 2013
Y2 - 26 August 2013 through 29 August 2013
ER -