[haskellandchill]

Active learning and problem selection is what I came to as well going through the literature. I was thinking of teaching algorithm design by having students build their own algorithm laboratory where they create visualizations and experiments that motivate interest in problems and the design of solutions.

[ellen364]

A build your own algorithm laboratory sounds fun.

I think “motivating the problem” (a phrase I hear a lot in American lectures) is often the weakest part of an algorithm and data structure course. The teaching approaches seem quite abstract, or make passing mention to practical problems.

Personally I find algorithms a bit boring in the abstract. I’ve always wondered why DSA projects are so rarely things like “Here’s a simple database that doesn’t support indexes. We’re going to query it and it will be painful. Then you’ll extend the database with a b-tree index.”

[aleph_minus_one]

> “Here’s a simple database that doesn’t support indexes. We’re going to query it and it will be painful. Then you’ll extend the database with a b-tree index.”

Because this is in my opinion a too complicated project for many computer science students (of a non-elite university). In other words: this looks like a great project to "weed out" students who should better not study computer science. Lectures/projects to weed out unusuitable student seem not to be accepted in the academic environment in the USA.

[haskellandchill]

Not really. I had projects like that at Georgia Tech, I know Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, etc have similar.

[aleph_minus_one]

That is why I wrote "(of a non-elite university)".

[noman-land]

That sounds like a really fun way to learn!