Ask Slashdot: How Can I Make a Computer Science Club Interesting?

plutoclacks writes "I will run a computer science club at my high school next semester with two other friends. The club was newly introduced this school year, and initially saw a massive success (40+ members showed up at the first meeting). Unfortunately, participation has decreased a lot since then, down to four active members. I feel that the main reason for this decline was the inability to maintain the students' interest at the beginning of the year, as well as general disorganization, which we hope to change next semester. The leaders of the club all have fairly strong Java backgrounds, in addition to enthusiasm about computer science and programming. We have a computer lab with ~30 computers, which, though old, are still functional and available for use. What are some ways we can make the club have an impacting interest to newcomers?"

Comments

Lots of hot smart chicks

[realsilly]

should do the trick.

Re:Lots of hot smart chicks

[gandhi_2]

Hookers and coke.

Normal.

[nospam007]

First, reduce your expectations.

From your initial 40 'applicants' only 20% will stay, that's everywhere the case, from Pilates to Yoga, from Knitting to Pottery.

So in the best case, you'll get 4 additional members.

Do something for the school:

[MurukeshM]

(Re)Design your website.
Create a course-management tool.
Try to use Moodle.

In general, a year-long project that will have a lasting effect on your high school.

Keep it interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

As and educator for 20+ years (University level) I can attest that I too have had the same problems. The way to stop the declining numbers it to make it more fun. Have everyone War Drive on the way to the meeting and hand out a $5 gas card to the one who fins the most open AP's. Have a contest to find the most expensive computer on ebay. Have a hackathon over a 12 hour period where they get to try their hand at protecting and attacking computers in a safe environment.

Re:Keep it interesting

[robthebloke]

+1 (and an ex-educator)

If you want to bore the pants off people, teach them the syntax of a programming language. If you want to maintain an enthusiastic class, teach the bare minimum language skills (for-loop, not for/while/do-while. std::vector, not std::vector/std::deque/std::stack/std::list. member funcs, not member funcs/operators/static methods/etc), and encourage them to 'build' interesting things (simple games, basic apps, image editing tools, sound sequencers, etc). Enthusiasm for programming and computer science is something that you develop over time. Enthusiasm for being creative and making your own computer game, is something that can grab peoples attention. Just remember that whilst *you* might love the inner workings of a 6502 processor, there will be a large number of people that will find that dull and unexciting! Constantly ask yourself the question: "Why am I showing them this? Is this going to help them be creative?", and you can't go too wrong imho (and try to encourage the people to make links with other passions they may have, e.g. art, sound, etc)

Step #1: toss Java.

[Nutria]

Step #2: understand that Computer Science isn't the same as Computers.
Step #3: decide what the current club members want to do.

Redesign the school web site? Robotics? Arduino/RasPi hacking? Learning new languages? Etc etc.

Installing FreeDOS and writing graphics programs in C that directly write to the VGA memory while controlling the sound "card" is an interesting first project. You learn a lot about the h/w, too. Then there's manipulating the FAT in assembly, banging bits out of the serial and parallel ports, etc, etc.

Re:Forget Java

[XxtraLarGe]

Heavy languages like Java/C++ are tedious for kids/adolescents. Program in something fun and lite like Python/Ruby/Perl.

Javascript is better still. No compiler, near instant results. You just need a text editor & browser.

Make something cool

[slim]

Make something cool; something you can show off to people outside the club, that will impress them and make them want to join in.

  Something involving robotics or sensing devices, perhaps -- that seems to engage young imaginations somehow. It's 20 times cooler to make a turtle robot draw a picture, than to draw the same picture on a screen. What about a Raspberry Pi powered school weather station that tweets the current wind speed and temperature, and serves visualisations of historical data on the web?

See if you can come up with a project that can scale -- so your 4 core members can make a start on it, but other people could be brought in whenever they show an interest?

Get rid of the 4 regulars

[arfonrg]

Get rid of the 4 regulars because they are driving everyone else off.