Pre-Introductory Programming for College Students: Driving Engagement, Motivation, and Creativity to Drive Interest in Computing Studies

This innovative practice paper presents an approach to make computer science (CS) in general and programming in particular more approachable for college students. Introductory programming classes can be difficult for learners; especially those without any programming background. Beginners must learn a new way of thinking, made more difficult by issues learning syntax. It's especially hard for students who lack a strong mathematics background. Observations across 3 editions of a CS0 pre-intro-programming course show that students consistently overestimate difficulties, and, come away with a stronger motivation for studying programming in the future as well as considering computer science (CS) and data science (DS) majors, minors, and certificates as options for future study after completion. A wider variety of students consider CS-adjacent college programs, and this can have an appreciable impact on the diversity of the student body entering CS/DS programs. We have found that long term success in CS/DS is predicted by strong motivational factors. While many high school students bring a strong motivation for pursuing CS/DS due to socioeconomic factors (exposure through people they know) and availability of coursework in high school; for other students, some may not have considered CS/DS as an option due to perceived difficulty as well as steep math requirements that function as barriers-to-entry. A CS0 pre-programming course like ours explicitly centers itself as “coding-is-fun” and encourages creativity. Students engage strongly with and are motivated to put in extra outside-of-class work required for mastery of material. We have limited evidence due to the fact that the data we have is from our small liberal arts college, however, 2 key factors make our observations and analysis valuable: 1) being a Hispanic-Serving-Institution (HSI) and an Asian-American and Native-American Pacific-Islander Serving-Institution (AANAPISI) we have a diverse student body, and 2) we are not a highly selective college which brings in a wide variety of students in terms of prior preparation. Having a CS0 pre-programming” coding-is-fun” allows this diverse student body to “test-the-waters” and, if interested, to pursue further CS/DS education by reducing the barrier-to-entry. We present data on: student perceptions before/after taking the course; the numbers of students considering further study including the breakdown of course-based vs self-study; and the tremendous numbers of students who find coding easier and therefore something they will use in their future life regardless of whether they formally plan to study CS/DS. The final point is critical in terms of adjusting to life in the 21st century as many fields/professions continue to increasingly be influenced by information and data technologies.