Limited Time and Experience: Parallelism in CS1

With the growing recognition of the importance of parallel and distributed computing (PDC) in computer science, it is crucial to offer students early experience--even in CS1. At the same time, PDC material must be handled very carefully when presented to students with so little background, in order to avoid confusion and a reduction in interest. This paper considers two sections of CS1 that used distinct approaches in introducing the same core set of PDC concepts. A number of specific strategies are presented, as well as a detailed analysis of pre- and post-test results.