Teaching recursion using fractals in Prolog
SIGCSE '88 Proceedings of the nineteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
An amazing exercise in recursion for CS1 and CS2
SIGCSE '88 Proceedings of the nineteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Designing a Java graphics library for CS 1
ITiCSE '98 Proceedings of the 6th annual conference on the teaching of computing and the 3rd annual conference on Integrating technology into computer science education: Changing the delivery of computer science education
Adding breadth to CS1 and CS2 courses through visual and interactive programming projects
SIGCSE '99 The proceedings of the thirtieth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Alice: a 3-D tool for introductory programming concepts
CCSC '00 Proceedings of the fifth annual CCSC northeastern conference on The journal of computing in small colleges
Teaching two-dimensional array concepts in Java with image processing examples
SIGCSE '03 Proceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Language tug-of-war: industry demand and academic choice
ACE '03 Proceedings of the fifth Australasian conference on Computing education - Volume 20
Communications of the ACM - Spyware
Restoring the popularity of computer science
Communications of the ACM - Special issue: RFID
Integrating 3D graphics into early CS courses
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Teaching 2D arrays using real-time video filters
Proceedings of the 6th conference on Information technology education
Communications of the ACM
Teaching CS1 with graphics and C
Proceedings of the 11th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Teaching recursion using recursively-generated geometric designs
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
An objective comparison of languages for teaching introductory programming
Proceedings of the 6th Baltic Sea conference on Computing education research: Koli Calling 2006
Dropping CS enrollments: or the emperor's new clothes?
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
Game-themed programming assignments: the faculty perspective
Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Image Crisis: Inspiring a new generation of computer scientists
Communications of the ACM - Web science
QuickDraw: bringing graphics into first year
Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
A portable graphics library for introductory CS
Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
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Most students enrolling in introductory computer science courses today have grown up working exclusively with graphical user interfaces. Through this experience, they have come to expect computers to be reasonably intuitive and easy to use. Yet, when students enter an introductory course in computer science, it is commonplace for them to work on exclusively text based assignments using complex programming languages. This paper describes our experience using Python and QuickDraw when teaching CS1. We have found that using these tools engages students by allowing them to quickly complete assignments that solve interesting problems and generate visually interesting results, without requiring excessive exposure to low level concepts or the use of complex graphical libraries. In our experience, students get greater satisfaction from working on such assignments, and this encourages them to spend additional time and effort learning the concepts that each assignment is designed to reinforce. In addition, using these tools presents a modern image for the discipline while also providing opportunities for students to be creative, helping to overcome the stereotype that computer science is sterile and boring.