Robots in an Introductory Survey Course in Computer Science

计算机科学（31）我们将移动机器人作为计算机科学概论课程的统一主题，面向所有专业的学生。我们的广度优先调查课程涵盖了逻辑电路、机器组织和汇编级编程、高级语言编程、可计算性、人工智能和社会关注等主题。广度优先的课程对非专业学生和计算机科学专业学生都很有用，但它面临的问题是提供足够的深度和合适的项目来培养对材料的真正理解。我们的项目涉及简单机器人的设计和建造，为连接调查课程的不同主题提供了一种方法，并使学生在实践中学习（而不是被告知）的教学方法成为可能。有多种解决方案的有趣问题被用来挑战广泛的学生，并鼓励那些对自己在技术、科学或数学方面的能力犹豫不决的学生参与进来。我们是在麻省理工学院、斯沃斯莫尔学院、韦尔斯利学院和科尔比学院开展的工作的基础上进行的，在那里，机器人被用来激发学生的兴趣，使课程材料更容易被学生理解。我们的调整是从这些高度选择性的机构中获取工作，并将其带给我们的学生，同时增强内容，包括机器组织。

Computer Science (31) We are using mobile robots as a unifying theme in an introductory survey course in computer science, for students of all majors. Our breadth-first survey course covers topics in logic circuits, machine organization and assembly-level programming, programming in a higher-level language, computability, artificial intelligence, and social concerns. Breadth-first courses are useful for non-majors as well as computer science majors, but face the problem of providing enough depth and suitable projects to develop real understanding of the material. Our projects involving the design and construction of simple robots provide a means for connecting the different topics of a survey course and enable a pedagogical approach in which students learn by doing (rather than by being told). Interesting problems with multiple kinds of solutions are being used to challenge a broad range of students and encourage participation by those who have been hesitant about their abilities in technology, science, or mathematics. We are building upon work performed at MIT, Swarthmore, Wellesley and Colby where robots have been used to generate interest and make the course material more accessible to students. Our adaption is to take the work from these highly selective institutions and bring it to our students while simultaneously enhancing the content to include machine organization.