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Increasing CS Enrollment With Contests

Increasing CS Enrollment With Contests. Who am I?. Computer Science Teacher / CS Coach Carroll Senior High – 7 years Cypress Falls – 4 years Cypress Woods – 1 year. Accomplishments. Computer Science Coach UIL 4A State Champs 2001 UIL 4A State Champs 2002 TCEA State Champs 2002

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Increasing CS Enrollment With Contests

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  1. Increasing CS Enrollment With Contests www.apluscompsci.com

  2. Who am I? • Computer Science Teacher / CS Coach Carroll Senior High – 7 years Cypress Falls – 4 years Cypress Woods – 1 year www.apluscompsci.com

  3. Accomplishments • Computer Science Coach UIL 4A State Champs 2001 UIL 4A State Champs 2002 TCEA State Champs 2002 UIL 5A State Champs 2003 TCEA State Champs 2003 TCEA State Champs 2005 UIL 5A State Champs 2006 TCEA State Champs 2006 www.apluscompsci.com

  4. Increasing enrollment • How can contests increase enrollment? get students excited create a sense of pride provide scholarship opportunities create a sense of purpose www.apluscompsci.com

  5. Generate Excitement Contests are fun and students enjoy getting a chance to test what they know outside the classroom. After attending just one contest, most students are hooked. www.apluscompsci.com

  6. Sense of Pride Once the students begin to have success with contests, a sense of pride is created and a tradition begins. Each student wants to work a little harder to get in on the winning action. www.apluscompsci.com

  7. Scholarships If students succeed in the contest arena, there are scholarships available through some contests and through certain universities. The more success a student has the better the scholarship. TILF www.apluscompsci.com

  8. Sense of Purpose As the contest fever sweeps through your program, each student that competes feels a much larger sense of purpose. Comp Sci becomes a crusade and new students start signing up. www.apluscompsci.com

  9. How to get teams started? • Teach basic contest strategy write code on paper never debug on the PC print often rotate PC time www.apluscompsci.com

  10. Write Code on Paper Write a complete program on paper that anyone on your team could type in. Write neatly and be thorough. Solve problems on paper, not on the PC! www.apluscompsci.com

  11. Never Debug on the PC NEVER – NEVER – NEVER Never debug on the computer during a contest! PRINT – PRINT - PRINT!!!! 4th person www.apluscompsci.com

  12. Print Often Good teams print every few minutes or so. Bad teams never print! www.apluscompsci.com

  13. Rotate PC Time Teams must share PC time. One student works on the PC for a short time to enter a program. If theprogram works, submit it. If not, print it and get out of the way. Repeat this process. Fitzgerald www.apluscompsci.com

  14. How to get teams ready? • Advanced students teach beginners have veterans peer tutor solve lots of problems learn common algos practice, practice, practice www.apluscompsci.com

  15. Peer Tutoring Have your top students work with and tutor the beginners. This peer tutoring process means a lot to the experienced kids and the new kids. www.apluscompsci.com

  16. Peer Tutoring Have the advanced students show the beginners how to solve the difficult problems and the basic problems. www.apluscompsci.com

  17. Solve Lots of Problems Have the students and teams work problem after problem after problem. There is no substitute for solving problems. Solve the same problem 50 times if needed. www.apluscompsci.com

  18. Learn Common Algos Master the common algos that show up at every contest. Know how to solve a maze and write a permutation. Know how to write a sort algo and a spiral matrix. www.apluscompsci.com

  19. Learn Common Algos Because recursion has became such an important part of contests, I spend extra time on that topic in my CS classes. I also teach several extended units on Sets, Maps, and the Comparable interface. www.apluscompsci.com

  20. Practice, Practice, Practice Organize after school practice contests and work pack after pack after pack. You have to solve lots of problems to become the best. www.apluscompsci.com

  21. Some Contest Basics • Learn basic programming operations how to make a template reading from files with a for loop reading from files with a while loop chopping up Strings with Scanner chopping up Strings with split regular expressions www.apluscompsci.com

  22. Basic Template //imports public class template { public void run() throws Exception { Scanner file=new Scanner(new File("prxx.dat")); //code goes here } public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception { template a=new template(); a.run(); } } OOP at contests www.apluscompsci.com

  23. Reading From Files Scanner file; file = new Scanner(new File("pr21.dat")); pr21.dat 567 345 www.apluscompsci.com

  24. Example Data File Example 1 nums.dat 6 23 11 6634 123 532 123 # of data sets (6) www.apluscompsci.com

  25. Reading From Files with a For Loop Scanner file; file = new Scanner(new File("nums.dat")); int cnt = file.nextInt(); for( int i=0; i<cnt; i++ ) { int num = file.nextInt(); out.println( num ); } www.apluscompsci.com

  26. Example Data File Example 2 34 23 11 6634 123 532 123 531 www.apluscompsci.com

  27. Reading From Files with while Loops Scanner file; file = new Scanner(new File("nums.dat")); while( file.hasNext() ) { int num = file.nextInt(); out.println( num ); } www.apluscompsci.com

  28. Example Data File Example 3 3 I went to the store. The big dog ran. How are you doing? www.apluscompsci.com

  29. Reading Lines from a file with a for loop Scanner file; file = new Scanner(new File("pr21.dat"))); int cnt = file.nextInt(); file.nextLine(); //clears the buffer for( int i=0; i<cnt; i++ ) { String line = file.nextLine(); //code } www.apluscompsci.com

  30. Example Data File Example 4 I went to the store. The big dog ran. How are you doing? www.apluscompsci.com

  31. Reading Lines from a file with a while loop Scanner file; file = new Scanner(new File("pr21.dat"))); while( file.hasNext() ) { String line = file.nextLine(); if( line.length() > 0 ) //code goes here } www.apluscompsci.com

  32. Chopping Strings String s = "abc def hij klm"; Scanner chopper = new Scanner(s); while( chopper.hasNext() ) { out.println( chopper.next() ); } www.apluscompsci.com

  33. Chopping Strings String s = "abc def hij klm"; String[ ] list = s.split(" "); for( String word : list ) { out.println( word ); } www.apluscompsci.com

  34. Chopping Strings String s = "123 435 444"; Scanner chopper = new Scanner(s); while( chopper.hasNextInt() ) { out.println( chopper.nextInt() ); } www.apluscompsci.com

  35. Regular Expressions String s = "12abcd45abcd"; s=s.replaceAll("ab", "-"); out.println(s); OUTPUT 12-cd45-cd www.apluscompsci.com

  36. Regular Expressions String s = "12abcd45abcd"; s=s.replaceAll("[abc]", "-"); out.println(s); OUTPUT 12---d45---d www.apluscompsci.com

  37. Regular Expressions String s = "12abcd45abcd"; s=s.replaceAll("[^abc]", "-"); out.println(s); OUTPUT --abc---abc- www.apluscompsci.com

  38. Increasing enrollment • How can contests increase enrollment? students want to win students want to go to college students want to belong www.apluscompsci.com

  39. Just Win Baby Most students want to win something. Once they hear about CS contests and realize they have a chance to win, they start signing up. www.apluscompsci.com

  40. Going to College Most students want to go to college and colleges like students that are involved in extracurricular activities. Adding a few CS contests to a college application cannot hurt. www.apluscompsci.com

  41. A Place to Belong Most students are looking for a place to fit in. For many students, the CS team is a great place to find friends and a competitive outlet. www.apluscompsci.com

  42. Useful Websites tcea website uil website javabat website apluscompsci www.apluscompsci.com

  43. Other Ways To Increase enrollment • Make the class fun graphical projects interactive projects game progams PONG – PAC MAN - BLACKJACK www.apluscompsci.com

  44. How to contact me? www.apluscompsci.com stacey.armstrong@ apluscompsci.com www.apluscompsci.com

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