A Browser-based IDE for the MUzECS Platform

We report on a scalable, portable, and secure visual development environment for programming embedded Arduino platforms with Chromebooks in a successful secondary school computer science curriculum. Our web-based environment is part of the larger MUzECS project, an inexpensive replacement module for the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) course being widely deployed in United States high schools. Students use MUzECS to gain a deeper understanding of computing, through a set of blocks which provide appropriate abstractions for working with low-level hardware. MUzECS improves upon the existing curriculum module by reducing the hardware cost by an order of magnitude, while still preserving the key ECS pillars of computer science content, student inquiry and classroom equity. Programming with visual blocks provides a more attractive tool for introductory courses than traditional approaches, and yet enables high-impact exploration activities such as building a series of embedded musical instruments. The current work combines and modifies several existing tools to eliminate technical barriers on low-cost platforms like Chromebooks, such as the reliance on special block-based toolchains, remote compilation servers, or multi-stage transfers for student code

MUzECS: Embedded Blocks for Exploring Computer Science

We build on the success of the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum, which has improved the accessibility of a Computer Science education to students of all backgrounds. While ECS has been well-received by its students and successful in reaching many students of diverse backgrounds, it currently suffers from a final module which is expensive and offers no easy transition to text-based programming. This module, which teaches robotics as an application of computing, rests on the LEGO Mindstorms1 platform. The Mindstorms have a block-based programming language that abstracts too much code to be of any use for making a transition from block-based programming to text-based programming. They are also more expensive than most schools can afford. This paper reports on one aspect of our successful effort to create an alternative curriculum which meets the same curriculum objectives as the current sixth module, but for a reduced price