Curing recursion aversion

Abstract

This paper outlines a pilot study which expands the age range of students exposed to computer science through interesting and engaging activities. Through this engagement, the number of students who understood and recognized the concepts covered increased. We hypothesize that these activities can increase the number of students who pursue post-secondary computer science. We present a unique recursion curriculum that exposes nine students aged 11-14 through hands-on experience over a 7 week period at the University of Victoria, Canada. The curriculum was comprised of progressively challenging "unplugged" activities and included programming applications with the Logo based programming language MicroWorlds EX. Curriculum, classroom experience, preliminary results and next steps are discussed.