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There is a movement to "contextualize" introductory programming courses (and other CS courses) by teaching core concepts in the context of a problem domain that is meaningful for the students. Media computation is one such effort: http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/mediaComp-teach

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That ties in a bit with Seymour Papert's idea of teaching programming as a medium of expression. One part is having a meaningful domain, though an equally important second part is encouraging exploration and tinkering, rather than plowing through rote exercises.

Here's a passage from an old journal article I've long liked: http://www.kmjn.org/snippets/papert85_logovisions.html

That's lovely! Part of me thinks that kind of thing should have been more of the focus of my post.

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