Alice in computer science Wonderland.

• Position: Your Life - Educational programming tool - Brief article

In today's world, Alice is not in Wonderland; instead, she can be found online. Alice is a teaching tool designed to get middle and high school students interested in the field of computer science, which has seen an estimated 70% drop in collegians majoring in that subject since 2000. Susan Rodger, associate professor of computer science at Duke University, Durham, N.C., is leading an effort to teach Alice to teachers and students alike. "People know what a doctor is and what he does," notes Rodger. "People don't even know what computer science is. Alice can change all that."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Alice takes a new tack on teaching introductory programming concepts through inventive 3D programming. For instance, Alice makes it easy to create animation for telling a story, fabricating an interactive game, or sharing a video on...