Breadth-first CS 1 for scientists
Zachary Dodds, Christine Alvarado, Geoff Kuenning, Ran Libeskind-Hadas · 2007
This paper describes an introductory CS course designed to provide future scientists with a one-semester overview of the discipline. The course takes a breadth-first approach that leverages its students' interest and experience in science, mathematics, and engineering. In contrast to many other styles of CS 1, this course does not presume that its students will study more computer science, but it does seek to prepare them should they choose to do so. In addition to describing the curriculum and resources, we summarize our preliminary assessments of this course and a comparison with the more traditional, imperative-first introduction it replaced. The data thus far suggest that this CS for Scientists course improves our students' understanding of CS, its applications, and practice.