A framework for CS1 and CS2 laboratories
SIGCSE '94 Proceedings of the twenty-fifth SIGCSE symposium on Computer science education
Exploring studio-based instructional models for computing education
Proceedings of the 39th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Reflections on the Teaching of Programming: Methods and Implementations
Reflections on the Teaching of Programming: Methods and Implementations
Learning To Program with Alice
Learning To Program with Alice
Developing students' self-assessment skills using lab-centric instruction
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
How we teach impacts student learning: peer instruction vs. lecture in CS0
Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Peer instruction in computing: the role of reading quizzes
Proceeding of the 44th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education
Student experience in a student-centered peer instruction classroom
Proceedings of the ninth annual international ACM conference on International computing education research
Codespells: how to design quests to teach java concepts
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
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Constructivist learning theory suggests that learners must construct their own understandings, rather than have understanding passively dumped into their brains. These findings support the US National Research Council's recommendations for the adoption of active learning pedagogies in the classroom. However, the "classroom lecture" is only one of the resources students commonly have for learning in higher education. In this paper, we present exploratory homeworks -- a tool to support active learning for teaching programming languages. By leveraging the opportunity for the student to interact with the computer/compiler, we seek to provide a model for students of how to explore and understand programming language constructs and concepts. We report on the use of 15 exploratory homework assignments used in a CS0 course with 440 students in Winter 2011. We provide a model and advice for others wishing to develop exploratory homeworks for their programming courses and present quantitative and qualitative evidence regarding students' positive valuation of the homeworks.