What Do CS1 Syllabi Reveal About Our Expectations of Introductory Programming Students?

Michigan State University - Introduction to Programming 1

Country: USA
University: Michigan State University
Course code: CSE 231
Course title: Introduction to Programming 1
Date of Syllabus:
Source: Manual search
Associated Degrees: Computer Science
Prerequisits: no
Course for Majors: yes
Course stage: 1
Semester:
Programming language: Python
Language of Instruction: English
URL: http://www.cse.msu.edu/Students/Future_Undergrad/CSE_Prereq/Syllabi/CSE_231.html
Explicit or !Explicit LOs: Explicit
Learning Outcomes:

Students will learn the fundamentals of a programming language. (such as language-defined data types (int, float, bool, str, list, tuple, dictionary, and set), programmer-defined classes, control constructs (sequence, selection, repetition), program modules (including functions, modules, methods ) )

Students will be able to demonstrate that they can effectively use the programming environment used in the course.

(Problem solving) Students will design, implement and test readable Python programs to solve problems.

Create algorithms to solve problems. As part of creating a solution, extend the programming language with new statements (functional abstraction) and new types, abstract data types

(Application) Given a set of functions and ADTs, possibly in a package, students will be able to develop an algorithm to solve a problem and implement the algorithm.

(Teamwork) Students will work in teams of two to solve problems in lab sessions.

LO categories:

Designing Algorithms

“Fundamentals of Programming”

Problem Solving (also things like computational thinking)

Teamwork skills & Communication

Abstraction

Data Structures (general or implied complex like stacks, queues etc)

Control Structures & logic (if/else etc)

Repitition & loops (for/while etc)

Functions, methods and procedures

Arrays, Lists, dictionaries, vectors, sets

Variables, assignment, arithmetic expressions, declarations, data types

Testing & Debugging code

IDE use