Re-imagining the first year of computing

1. Summary The Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science program is intended to reflect enough of a common core of a first semester or year of university-level computer science so that placement or credit can be awarded for work done before college. The SIGCSE symposia have a long history of providing forums for discussing the evolution of the AP program from its inception [1] to the transition in languages from Pascal to C++ to Java [2,3,5,7,8,9]. In [15] a report on the beginning of the project we report on here was presented. This proposed special session is a report on a new direction, with the potential for widespread adoption, for a new course in computer science for high schools and colleges; a course with the potential to be a new AP course attracting a larger and more diverse audience than typical introductory programming courses. In this session we will report on the process that has led to this new direction, the potential for piloting the new course, and the need for complete disclosure and dialog that will be part of this session.