CS for Insight: Disciplinary Computing Beyond CS1

Harvey Mudd College, Claremont CA

Investigators

Abstract

Computer Science's traditional role in the university setting has been to develop skilled software engineers and computing professionals. Eclipsing, not replacing, that role is the growing need for computing expertise in non-computing disciplines. The "CS for Insight" project at Harvey Mudd College will develop a curriculum that will serve as a bridge from a typical introductory computer science course (CS1) to discipline-specific courses in computing for many fields. In the "CS for Insight" curriculum students will use existing computing resources, first to gain confidence in learning new interfaces, and then will apply these resources to address challenges within their discipline. The project's broader goal will be to better understand the pathways that non-computing disciplines may follow to provide their students with the appropriate computing skills for their specific discipline. Departments at schools across the country are exploring the many pathways for leveraging computation for their specific purposes. Two paradigms have begun to emerge. Some disciplines "adapt and assimilate," integrating their own computing curriculum from the very start. Others collaborate to "factor-out-then-follow-up," choosing to build discipline-specific skills atop a computing-based CS1. The consortium of Claremont Colleges, simultaneously widely varied and close-knit, offers a laboratory uniquely suited for comparing these paradigms head-to-head and exploring the hybrid approaches that will arise alongside. This project will leverage this disciplinary diversity to draw a more representative cohort of students to computing. The PI team will carefully track the demographics and computational identities of the participants to develop knowledge that can be used by others to create a model by which all disciplines can leverage computing as part their own unique culture.