Interest in studying Computer Science has dropped dramatically. Our solution was to focus on the fun of the subject rather than selling ourselves. The result is cs4fn (www.cs4fn.org) a website and magazine with linked live shows funded by EPSRC and Queen Mary with support from Google and others. The website gets over a million hits a month and the magazine is in demand by teachers worldwide. Our undergraduate applications also rose by over 130% in its first 2 years.
A highlight is the Computer Science Magic Show where we link magic tricks with computer science: from what an algorithm is to how medical tomography works, from HCI to invariant proof. We present real magic tricks. We then challenge the audience to work out how they were done. Finally, we explain the mechanics and the link to computer science. Feedback from children of a variety of abilities and age ranges has been very positive.
In this talk we will demonstrate some of the magic and discuss how we make Computer Science fun as well as serious.
Paul Curzon is a Reader in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He gained his PhD in Computer Science in 1990 from the University of Cambridge where he then worked as a Research Associate. He joined Queen Mary in 2004 and is the Director of Communications for the School. His research interests include formal models of human behaviour, formal verification and human error, and public engagement in science. He has won Queen Mary Drapers' awards for both excellence and innovation in teaching and also won the EPSRC non-professional Computer Science writer award in 2007. He launched the EPSRC funded webzine and magazine, www.cs4fn.org with Peter McOwan in the Summer of 2005.