Prompt Problems: A New Programming Exercise for the Generative AI EraGlobalCC
Large Language Models (LLMs) are revolutionizing the field of computing education with their powerful code-generating capabilities. Traditional pedagogical practices have focused on code writing tasks, but there is now a shift in importance towards code reading, comprehension and evaluation of LLM-generated code. Alongside this shift, an important new skill is emerging – the ability to solve programming tasks by constructing good prompts for code-generating models. In this work we introduce a new type of programming exercise to hone this nascent skill: `Prompt Problems’. Prompt Problems are designed to help students learn how to write effective prompts for AI code generators. A student solves a Prompt Problem by crafting a natural language prompt which, when provided as input to an LLM, outputs code that successfully solves a specified programming task. We also present a new web-based tool called Promptly which hosts a repository of Prompt Problems and supports the automated evaluation of prompt-generated code. We deploy Promptly for the first time in one CS1 and one CS2 course and describe our experiences, which include student perceptions of this new type of activity and their interactions with the tool. We find that students are enthusiastic about Prompt Problems, and appreciate how the problems engage their computational thinking skills and expose them to new programming constructs. We discuss ideas for the future development of new variations of Prompt Problems, and the need to carefully study their integration into classroom practice.
Thu 21 MarDisplayed time zone: Pacific Time (US & Canada) change
13:45 - 15:00 | LLM - Teaching CS1/CS2Papers at Oregon Ballroom 204 Chair(s): Suzanne Matthews United States Military Academy | ||
13:45 25mTalk | Teaching CS50 with AI: Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence in Computer Science EducationGlobalMSICC Papers Rongxin Liu Harvard University, Carter Zenke Harvard University, Charlie Liu Yale University, Andrew Holmes Harvard University, Patrick Thornton Harvard University, David J. Malan Harvard University DOI | ||
14:10 25mTalk | Prompt Problems: A New Programming Exercise for the Generative AI EraGlobalCC Papers Paul Denny The University of Auckland, Juho Leinonen Aalto University, James Prather Abilene Christian University, Andrew Luxton-Reilly The University of Auckland, Thezyrie Amarouche University of Toronto Scarborough, Brett Becker University College Dublin, Brent Reeves Abilene Christian University DOI | ||
14:35 25mTalk | CS1 with a Side of AI: Teaching Software Verification for Secure Code in the Era of Generative AICC Papers DOI |