Translation Beauty and Joy of Computing may convince girls to choose computer science
Programming courses are often only available in English. All the more reason for the Programming Education Research Lab (PERL) of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Twente to translate the 'Beauty and Joy of Computing' programming lessons into Dutch. The first chapter was published online at the beginning of September.
Do it yourself
Last year, PERL received funding for the project from 4TU to translate the American course material into Dutch. The lessons are aimed at secondary school students who can use the 'Snap!' programming language to find out for themselves that programming is more than just mathematics and games.
Creativity
The students can also use the course material to create works of art, for example, and express their creativity in this way. ‘It is much more focused on making beautiful things, and less on puzzles,' says Felienne Hermans. ‘In America, this has led to more girls opting for computer science.’