Flipped,   Crowd-‐Sourced,   Gamified,   Socialized  and  Funkified:   Throwing  Everything  But  the Kitchen Sink  at  Introductory  Programming  Classes

is exploding. Active learning, online learning, hybrid learning, social learning are just a few of the popular methods being discussed, tried, and adapted for teaching CS. The motivation for trying these approaches is often to respond to new technology and/or research on learning. Yet, we are starting to see that research in CS education has its own characteristics and associated challenges. In this white paper, we focus on teaching CS subjects that include the development of programming skills. We highlight the difficulties in traditional approaches to teaching programming courses and the challenges in introducing new teaching methods and understanding the effect of interventions. Active learning is unarguably more effective than passive learning. For example, the finding that retrieving from memory improves long term retention [12] is an indication that students are engaged in the most effective learning when they are actively retrieving from memory, not when they are listening to a lecture. We are seeing that new approaches to teaching programming, such as the flipped classroom method, students spend time in the classroom working on activities, such as solving problems, writing code, or discussing concepts with their peers. This creates a learning environment where students learn by interacting and collaborating with their peers. Many studie