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The computer as a problem solving tool: a unifying view for a non-majors course

Published: 01 March 1998 Publication History

Abstract

At Villanova University we have a popular course for non-majors focused on problem solving with computers, taught using our own lecture and lab materials. This paper seeks to describe the essence of the problem solving course by focusing on an assignment that is given after the first unit of the course has been completed. This assignment, writing an essay about how someone uses a computer to solve a problem, requires the application of most of the topics of the first third of the course and is very representative of the spirit of the course as a whole.

References

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Herrmann, N. and Popyack, J. Creating an authentic learning experience in introductory programming courses. SIGCSE Bulletin 27, 1 (March 1995), 199-203.
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Curl, L. and Hussin, B. Introductory Computing: A New Approach. SIGCSE Bulletin 25,1(March 1993 ), 131-135
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Dewdney, A.K. Introductory Computer Science: Bits of Theory Bytes of Practice. Computer Science Press, New York, 1996.
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Scragg, G.W. Problem Solving with Computers. Jones and Bartlett, London, 1997.
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Beck, R., Cassel, L., and Austing, R. Computer Science: a core discipline of liberal arts and sciences. SIGCSE Bulletin 21,1 (March 1989), 56-60.
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Cassel, L., Beck, R., and Hardt, D. Computing and the understanding of text. Proceedings of the Sixth IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education, Birmingham, July, 1996.
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Soloway, E. Should we teach students to j program? CACM36,10 (October 1993), 21-24.
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Polya, G. How To Solve lt. Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1957.

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  • (2018)Increasing Motivation of CS1 Non-Majors through an Approach Contextualized by Games and Media2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2018.8659011(1-9)Online publication date: 3-Oct-2018
  • (2006)A robust web programming and graphics course for non-majorsACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1124706.112136738:1(72-76)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2006
  • (2006)A robust web programming and graphics course for non-majorsProceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1121341.1121367(72-76)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2006
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      Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 01 March 1998
      Published in SIGCSE Volume 30, Issue 1

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      • (2018)Increasing Motivation of CS1 Non-Majors through an Approach Contextualized by Games and Media2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2018.8659011(1-9)Online publication date: 3-Oct-2018
      • (2006)A robust web programming and graphics course for non-majorsACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1124706.112136738:1(72-76)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2006
      • (2006)A robust web programming and graphics course for non-majorsProceedings of the 37th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/1121341.1121367(72-76)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2006
      • (2003)Hands-on labs without computersACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/792548.61199235:1(296-300)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2003
      • (2003)Hands-on labs without computersProceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/611892.611992(296-300)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2003
      • (2023)Design Methodology of Introductory Information Technology for Major in Languages and TranslationProceedings of the 9th International Conference on Education and Training Technologies10.1145/3599640.3603118(1-5)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2023
      • (2017)A First Look at the Year in ComputingProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3059009.3059049(275-280)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2017
      • (2013)Do Non‐Computer Science Students Need to Program?*Journal of Engineering Education10.1002/j.2168-9830.2001.tb00636.x90:4(535-541)Online publication date: 2-Jan-2013
      • (2008)Teaching complexity via spreadsheetsJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/1352627.135264223:5(83-89)Online publication date: 1-May-2008
      • (2007)Making computing attractive for non-majorsJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/1181849.118187322:3(90-97)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2007
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