Engaging students in programming fundamentals using alice 2.0

Many of the programming principles taught in any programming fundamentals course are essentially the same. We will describe some of the principles and techniques that students learn in a first programming course using Alice 2.0 that is shared by programs in IS, IT, CS and liberal studies, drawing from the IT Computing Curricula 2005. We will then describe a set of nifty assignments that result in projects that exercise these principles and techniques and may be used to emphasize one or more in depth topical issues.