Storytelling Alice: presenting programming as a means to the end of storytelling Caitlin Kelleher Carnegie Mellon University Faculty Candidate Friday, February 2, 2007 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Fuller Labs 320 It is estimated that the number of incoming college students intending to major in computer science has dropped by 70% since 2000, despite the fact that the need for computer scientists continues to grow. Increasing the numbers of female students who pursue computer science has the potential to help fill projected computing jobs and to improve the technology we create by diversifying the viewpoints that influence its design. Numerous studies have found that girls begin to turn away from math and science related disciplines, including computer science, during middle school. By the end of eighth grade, twice as many boys as girls are interested in pursuing science, engineering, or technology based careers. I will describe the development of Storytelling Alice, a programming environment that gives middle school girls a positive first experience with computer programming. It presents programming as a means to the end of storytelling, a motivating activity for a broad spectrum of middle school girls. More than 250 girls participated in the formative user testing of Storytelling Alice. To determine the impact of the storytelling focus on girls' interest in and success at learning to program, I conducted a study comparing the experiences of girls introduced to programming using Storytelling Alice with those of girls introduced to programming using a version of Alice without storytelling features (Generic Alice). Participants who used Storytelling Alice and Generic Alice were equally successful at learning basic programming concepts. However, I found that users of Storytelling Alice show more evidence of engagement with programming. I will conclude by discussing future directions for introducing programming through storytelling as well as other potential contexts for storytelling. ______ Caitlin Kelleher is currently a post-doctoral researcher in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University with Professor Randy Pausch. Caitlin was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow.

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