Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill Show a Little Style Curt Hill and Martin Kelly

What You Already Know Alice is a great way to introduce students to programming It demonstrates: –Objects Properties Methods –Flow of Control –Event handling The resulting product almost guarantees engagement Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

The Problem Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill VCSU Professors CS and CIS Professors Theater and Literature Professors

The Problem Revisited The students in the class are typically Mathematics Education and Computer Information Systems They may recognize a good story but do not generally know how to create one When the student does not know how to tell a good story, their lack of confidence can destroy their motivation Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Context The class was an introductory Java class The first two weeks were an introduction to Alice Five classes on Alice, one on quality dramatics One additional class for student presentations Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Approaches Three approaches to making a story interesting Robert Cohen’s GOTE Aristotle’s six requirements of a tragic drama Gustav Freytag’s pyramid Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Robert Cohen’s GOTE Renowned playwright and critic Professor at University of California at Irvine Goal Other Tactics Expectation Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Aristotle Describes in his work Poetics what characteristics should be found in a quality tragedy Plot Character Message Language Rhythm Spectacle Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Plot Self contained series of incidents The situation prior to the action should be believable Those things that happen should be a consequence of the character and decisions of the actors What not to do: Deus ex machina Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Character The audience should be able to see the virtue and vice of the main characters What is in their heart? What motivates them? Their character determines how the audience relates to that character Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Message The moral of the story The audience should learn that certain types of action leads to certain types of results –Arrogance leads to problems –Kindness has its rewards Today’s entertainment often, but not always, lacks this Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Language The vocabulary and sentence structure should be appropriate for the character and situation The doctor should speak differently than the truck driver The pace should also reflect the mood of the scene Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Rhythm The dialog has a rhythm less precise than music, but still essential The meter of the poetry may be warped to heighten effect Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Spectacle The effect of set, lighting, props and other effects A circus is all spectacle As are many “action” movies In an Alice program this is proper background for the actors To the students being able to make anything like this is spectacle enough Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Freytag’s Pyramid Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill exposition rising action climax ending falling action

Disclaimer Not all of these are needed for Alice movies The students are working hard enough without juggling all these aspects There is no expectation that any Alice movie will demonstrate all these characteristics Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Results Insufficient numbers for any type of empirical results Informally, this class presented the best crop of programs Any of the top five programs would have been no worse than second in any previous class Made watching the presentations nicer for the instructor! Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill

Questions? Copyright © 2009 Curt Hill My_Webpage/curt_research.htm