Proceedings First International Workshop on Trends in Functional Programming in Education

TL;DR

This workshop volume presents diverse innovative educational approaches using functional programming, emphasizing computational thinking, simulation, and accessible tools for students and educators.

Contribution

It introduces new methods for teaching functional programming and computer science concepts to various educational levels, highlighting practical and interactive techniques.

Findings

Enhanced student engagement through logic and equation-based reasoning

Use of simulation and hardware description languages in courses

Web-based interpreters and theorem provers facilitate CS education

Abstract

The First International Workshop on Trends in Functional Programming in Education, TFPIE 2012, was held on June 11, 2012 at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The goal of TFPIE is to gather researchers, professors, teachers, and all professionals that use or are interested in the use of functional programming in education. Submissions were vetted by the TFPIE 2012 program committee using prevailing academic standards. The 4 articles in this volume were selected for publication as the result of this process. These articles cover a wide range of novel approaches in education using functional programming. Page and Gamboa describe how they introduce students to computational thinking and problem solving using logic and equation-based reasoning. O'Donnell describes efforts to make computer systems courses come alive through the use of simulation and a functional hardware description language. Radge describes a novel approach to CS1 exploiting the interplay of the imprecision found in mathematical abstractions and the precision that is required in programming. Stutterheim, Swierstra, and Swierstra describe a new approach to introduce high school students to programming and to important ideas in Computer Science using a web-based interpreter and theorem prover.