NORTON - Can 3D computer software named Alice inspire Norton High School students to explore programming?

School officials will find out next year, when programming returns to the high school for the first time in years.

The school committee this week approved eight new courses for next year.

Besides Learning to Program with Alice, the board approved: Introduction to Engineering, Engineering Lab, Project Based Mathematics, Human Geography, Chinese Language and Literature, Latin American Studies and Senior Project.

All courses will be taught without adding teachers, Principal Raymond Dewar said. Some existing courses will either have fewer sections or not be taught. The Alice course will bring "a form of programming back to Norton High School, because we haven't had it for a number of years," district Supervisor of Technology Lynn Wiegel said.

Earlier programming courses were dropped because of declining student interest, Wiegel said. Those computer languages were "very script-based and not very exciting for people," she said.

Inspiring students to consider programming as a career is a goal of the new course. Studies have shown that fewer women, for example, are pursuing programming careers, she said.

"Most kids don't really think that computer programming is something that is a potential for them," Dewar said.

Wiegel said Alice is a "video-oriented" program that "offers students a peak at programming" and "really mirrors or emulates Java in many ways."

"You basically manipulate something, but you have to manipulate that in a way that follows programming language," she said.

Wiegel and Dewar said students don't see immediate results when using other programming languages.

With Alice, "you get a sense of, 'If I keep doing these things, something certainly will happen,' " Dewar said.

Passing Algebra 1 will be a pre-requisite for taking the course.

Wiegel said she discovered Alice while exploring different education options for the school district last summer. A number of colleges and universities use Alice, Wiegel said. Last fall, Wheaton College computer science professor Mark LeBlanc told her he has worked with it at his school.

LeBlanc will help Wiegel and math department head Mary Taylor during a Feb. 12 workshop introducing Norton High teachers to Alice.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER covers Norton for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.