Abstract

Abstract. The TeachScheme! Project aims to reform three aspects of introductory pro-gramming courses in secondary schools. First, we use a design method that asks students to develop programs in a stepwise fashion such that each step produces a well-specified intermediate product. Second, we use an entire series of programming languages, not just one. Each element of the series introduce students to specific linguisticmechanisms and thus represents a cognitive development stage in the learning process. The third reform element is the use of a program development environment thatwas specifically developed for beginners. This paper presents the project's premises, the details of its innovations, and a preliminary experience report. 1 Programming for Everyone A good course on programming belongs in the core of every secondary school's liberal artscurriculum. Good courses on programming introduce students to the systematic design of programs based on word problems. A student who learns to design programs systemati-cally also learns (and practice) critical reading, analytic thinking, concise writing, problem solving, and fact checking, all of which are generally useful skills.Programming also has two major motivational advantages over similar school subjects. First, programming is creative. With programs, students create artifacts that do something,unlike the solutions to mathematical exercises or English essays. Second, programming is an activity with an extremely fast feedback loop, which is a key factor in active learning, astyle of learning that appeals to a majority of learners [6, 20].

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