A first introduction to programming for first-year students at a Chinese university using LEGO MindStorms

In this paper, we describe some of our experiences in incorporating LEGO MindStorms into an introductory programming course. There are three distinguishing features of this course. First, it had a large number of students; almost 500 students were enrolled in it and most of them had minimal to no exposure to programming before taking the course. Second, it is taught at a Sino-British university but located in China-that is, the lessons were given in English and the curriculum met both the UK and Chinese standards. Third, the students had varied interests, ranging from engineering to computer science to industrial design. The experiences described in this paper will be useful to educators who are planning to integrate LEGO MindStorms into their teaching of programming to novice students who are from different backgrounds and with varied interests, enrolled in a large class, and who attend a university outside of developed countries.