An introductory computational course for science students

Authors:
Sohie Lee;Ellen Hildreth
Affiliations:
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA;Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA
Venue:
Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges
Year:
2010

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Abstract

This paper describes an introductory CS course, in a liberal arts setting, designed for science students to learn programming using MATLAB. This course differs from many introductory CS classes in that 1) students are not expected to continue taking more CS classes and 2) MATLAB is used in a general computational context rather than in an engineering setting. Students learn to write software to solve problems, visualize and analyze data, perform computer simulations, and implement and test computational models that arise in a wide range of scientific disciplines. The course culminates with an individualized final programming project in which students apply their MATLAB skills in their particular area of scientific interest.