An introduction to computer science for non-majors using principles of computation

Abstract

In this paper, the design and implementation of a novel introductory computer science course for non-majors is presented. This course focuses on the major contributions in computer science from the perspective of the process of computation. This course differs from most introductory courses in computer science in that it does not include programming using a computer programming language. Students focus on algorithms and the principle of computational thinking, and use a flowchart simulator to experiment with various short algorithms and build simple computer games without dealing with programming language syntax. Steadily increasing enrollments and interest from various departments on campus indicate that this course has become a successful addition to our introductory CS offerings.