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

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


The Problem


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


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


Approaches

• Three approaches to making a story interesting

• Robert Cohen’s GOTE• Aristotle’s six requirements of a

tragic drama• Gustav Freytag’s pyramid


Robert Cohen’s GOTE

• Renowned playwright and critic• Professor at University of California

at Irvine• Goal• Other• Tactics• Expectation


Aristotle

• Describes in his work Poetics what characteristics should be found in a quality tragedy

• Plot• Character• Message• Language• Rhythm• Spectacle


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


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


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


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


Rhythm

• The dialog has a rhythm less precise than music, but still essential

• The meter of the poetry may be warped to heighten effect


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


Freytag’s Pyramid


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


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!


Questions?


http://community.vcsu.edu/facultypages/curt.hill/My_Webpage/curt_research.htm

Documents

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