Teaching Scenario-Based Programming: An Additional Paradigm for the High School Computer Science Curriculum, Part 1

Abstract

This article describes a pilot programming course in which high school students were introduced, through the visual programming language of live sequence charts (LSC), to a new paradigm termed scenario-based programming. The rationale underlying this course was teaching high school students a second, very different programming paradigm. Using LSC for this purpose has other advantages, such as exposing students to high-level programming, dealing with nondeterminism and concurrency, and referring to human-computer interaction (HCI) issues. This work also contributes to the discussion about guiding principles for curriculum development. It highlights an important principle: the educational objective of a course should include more than mere knowledge enhancement. A course should be examined and justified through its contribution to learning fundamental ideas and forming useful habits of mind.