Ofer Wald, Judith Gal-Ezer, Nezer Zaidenberg E101 Proceedings of the 21st Chais Conference for the Study of Innovation and Learning Technologies: Learning in the Digital Era I. Blau, A. Caspi, Y. Eshet-Alkalai, N. Geri, Y. Kalman, D. Olenik-Shemesh, Y. Sidi, & N. Brandel (Eds.), Ra'anana, Israel: The Open University of Israel Competitive Programming as a Source for Problems and Tools for CS1 (Short paper) Ofer Wald The Open University of Israel oferwald@openu.ac.il Judith Gal-Ezer The Open University of Israel galezer@openu.ac.il Nezer Zaidenberg Ariel University nezerjz@ariel.ac.il תכנות תחרותי כמקור לבעיות וכלים בהוראת מבוא למדעי המחשב )מאמר קצר( נצר זיידנברג אוניברסיטת אריאל nezerjz@ariel.ac.il יהודית גל - עזר האוניברסיטה הפתוחה galezer@openu.ac.il עופר ולד האוניברסיטה הפתוחה oferwald@openu.ac.il Abstract Teaching introductory computer science (CS1) courses in colleges poses significant challenges. Students enroll in classes with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of experience. College constraints, including budget limitations and limited teaching forces, reduce the number of practice assignments, thus limiting opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of the material. In this article, we discuss the integration of competitive programming (CP) methods and problems into an introductory computer science course for first year college students. We specifically focus on a single group of 83 students taught by the first author out of 555 who began the academic year at the college, serving as a control group. The authors provide a brief overview of the competitive programming landscape and discuss the rationale for its integration, along with the development of tools aimed at facilitating this approach. Ultimately, based on our teaching experiences, we illustrate a positive impact of employing competitive programming on students’ performance compared to those who followed traditional teaching methods. Keywords: CS1, CS Teaching, CP, Competitive Programming, Hands-on Teaching, CS Education Tools. Introduction A substantial body of research addresses the teaching of CS1, particularly in light of the growing presence of large language models (LLMs) and the increasing challenges faced by instructors (e.g., (Vadaparty, 2024); (Pang, 2024)). CS1 is often students’ first encounter with academic computer science and algorithmic problem-solving. This role is especially demanding in college settings, where
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