CarBot is a first programming assignment for a CS0/CS1 course. It is a chatbot program wrapped around a monthly payment calculator for a car loan.
Consider allowing students to work together on this assignment using pair programming or peer instruction as a way to encourage Collaborative Learning.
Additionally, to further enhance the Interdiscplinary Connections of this assignment, consider inviting in an expert from industry who can discuss chatbots use in the field.
For the first programming assignment in a CS0/CS1 course there are not many programming constructs to work with. Students need to practice arithmetic, order of operations, etc. Therefore first assignments are often implementing basic calculator functionality. Carbot is engaging because students are encouraged to express themselves through coding and create a unique personality for Carbot, a simple “calculator” program.
Carbot has meaningful and relevant content because chatbots are quite common in research, industry, and education. Several businesses have chatbots to interact with customers and ask questions. In education, chatbots are often researched and implemented in the field of artificial intelligence.