Analogies and Active Engagement: Introducing Computer Science

We describe a new introductory CS curriculum initiative that uses analogies and active engagement to develop students' conceptual understanding before applying the concepts to programming. We believe that traditional coding approaches to introducing computer science concepts rely on students to build their own conceptual understanding, rather than grounding their understanding of concepts in what they know from everyday experiences. Using constructivism as a foundation for this curriculum initiative, our approach builds a framework for student understanding anchored in the physical world using simple games and stories to stimulate mental engagement through embodied learning.