Why do fools fall into infinite loops: singing to your computer science class

Authors:
Eric V. Siegel
Affiliations:
Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, New York, NY
Venue:
ITiCSE '99 Proceedings of the 4th annual SIGCSE/SIGCUE ITiCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
Year:
1999

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Abstract

One effective way to introduce a dose of humanity, acknowledge the needs and struggles of CS1 students, and appeal to a broader range of learning styles is to present a computer science topic in an entertaining manner, e.g., with some form of artistic performance. In this paper, I describe three songs for CS1 that are designed to help students surmount three of the most difficult hurdles of that course. Empirical and anecdotal results demonstrate that the songs help students learn, and help them enjoy learning. These songs are a case study in entertainment; all instructors can find some way to entertain their class, and recordings of the songs themselves are available on the web for any instructor or student.