Synergies between writing stories and writing programs in problem-solving courses

First-year problem-solving and computer programming courses are gateway courses with low passing rates, resulting in student attrition and transfers out of computer science degrees. Our urban institution serves mostly under-represented minority students, typically an at-risk population given their minimal previous programming experience and weak mathematical background. We offer a computer problem-solving course (PS) to prepare students in computing and engineering majors for a rigorous first programming course (CSI). Given a change in programming learning context from a programming language to the 3D programming environment Alice, the pass rate increased by 8% points (from 70% to 78%). The higher pass rate in the Alice PS course does not result in a weaker preparation of students for the subsequent CSI course. Moreover, teaching the Alice PS course as part of an interdisciplinary learning community linked to a first course in English composition with strong narrative components further increases student performance and retention. This intentional interdisciplinary approach to problem solving allows students to purposefully connect and integrate knowledge and skills from across the disciplines, developing synergies between writing stories and writing computer programs.