Starting with scratch in CS 1

1. Summary Scratch [4] is both a social computing environment and a rich programming language with a highly supportive interface. Although originally intended for an audience younger than college freshman, there is growing interest in using Scratch at the undergraduate level as a gentle introduction to hard concepts. David Malan and Henry Leitner first presented their experience teaching Harvard introductory CS courses with Scratch at SIGCSE two years ago [3]. At SIGCSE 08 John Maloney and Ursula Wolz provided the SIGCSE community with an overview of the language and the social computing website. John also presented research results at SIGCSE 08 on the popularity of programming among young people in a community clubhouse setting [4]. The kids preferred to program rather than play computer games. At both Harvard and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) we have seen similar phenomena where the flexibility, simplicity and ease with which students can make their programming experience highly personal in a supportive community, actively engages them in the process of learning to program regardless of ethnicity or gender.