Programming Plush Toys as an Introduction to Computer Science: The (Fraught) Question of Motivation

Abstract

Computer science education has long grappled with a central difficulty: despite the fact that the discipline is of undeniable cultural importance, and despite the fact that in America (as indeed in most countries) there is a perceived need for trained computer scientists, it is difficult to motivate younger students to pursue computing as a personal interest. This problem is particularly acute for female students, whose numbers among computer science undergraduate programs are consistently small. In this chapter, we discuss a project whose goal is to provide a more motivating introduction to middle-school students (particularly, though not exclusively, girls), employing tangible programming of plush toys as its central activity. Forty-six students, aged 12–14, completed a 7.5-week study in which they used a system called Plushbot to create and program their own plush toys; the students also completed pre- and post-surveys designed to elicit their attitudes toward programming and computer science. This chapter discusses the ideas behind using tangible programming as a motivating activity for computer science; the results of the surveys, while in many ways not encouraging for our purposes, highlight the difficulty both of measuring (and understanding) students’ attitudes toward programming and the continuing need for innovative research and design in responding to this issue.