The introductory course in basics of programming aims to teach second-year political science students the basic skills of applied programming that are crucial for transferring their research ideas into computational models. As one of students’ first interactions with computer science concepts, the course assists in overcoming their barriers in programming, and introduces them to ways of applying computational thinking. In addition, the course material can serve as a launching pad for further development in the areas of modelling social problems, its simulations and quantitative analysis. This paper presents course design considerations, shares findings in assignment design, and raises questions to consider when designing CS0 and CS1 courses for social science students.
Ida Ngambeki Purdue University, Matt Bishop The University of California, Davis, Jun Dai California State University, Sacramento, Phil Nico California Polytechnic State University
