Team dynamics and the undergraduate curriculum

• Published in: SIGCSE bulletin 1978-12, Vol.10 (4), p.28-29
• Main Authors: Hansen, John C., Hansen, Elizabeth A., Derus, Kenneth H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0097-8418
• DOI: 10.1145/988906.988911

The work habits of computer science students are rarely good. Most students adopt undesirably hermetic attitudes toward problem solving, despite the fact that large-scale programming problems demand cooperative efforts for their effective solution.This is not surprising. Students learn to write programs by working alone, and are rewarded for creating programs which are somehow innovative. Much of the work produced in this sort of fashionably competitive setting is poorly communicable. Students develop idiosyncratic styles of working out-and writing down-their results, and have difficulty understanding and appreciating each other's accomplishments. Indeed, it could be said that student programs are "original" largely to the extent that they are unintelligible to other students of ostensibly similar background.This paper outlines some ways in which the curriculum of undergraduate computer science courses can be designed to promote team-oriented attitudes toward problem solving. Each of the examples discussed has been used by one or more of the authors in undergraduate classes.