A Biology-themed Introductory CS Course at a Large, Diverse Public University

We present the curriculum and evaluation of a pilot Biology-themed CS1 course offering at a large public university. Inspired by Harvey Mudd's CS 5 Green, we adapt CS1 + Bio to fit the needs of our student body, which is much more typical for those US institutions that produce the bulk of the nation's CS undergraduate degrees. This course was team-taught by a computer science professor and a biology professor, and combined typical CS1 topics with relevant biology content. Our initial offering attracted students who would not otherwise have taken CS1, and was the only one of our three CS1 courses where more students reported planning to major in CS after the course than before it.

[1]  Quintin I. Cutts,et al.  Experience report: a multi-classroom report on the value of peer instruction , 2011, ITiCSE '11.

[2]  Florence March,et al.  2016 , 2016, Affair of the Heart.

[3]  Ran Libeskind-Hadas,et al.  Increasing women's participation in computing at Harvey Mudd College , 2012, INROADS.

[4]  Cynthia Taylor,et al.  Initial Experiences with a CS + Law Introduction to Computer Science (CS 1) , 2017, ITiCSE.

[5]  E. Mazur,et al.  Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results , 2001 .

[6]  Ran Libeskind-Hadas,et al.  When CS 1 is biology 1: crossdisciplinary collaboration as CS context , 2010, ITiCSE '10.

[7]  W. Bialek,et al.  Introductory Science and Mathematics Education for 21st-Century Biologists , 2004, Science.

[8]  Angela Carbone,et al.  Using an Electronic Voting System to Promote Active Reflection on Coursework Feedback , 2004 .

[9]  Jane E Caldwell,et al.  Clickers in the large classroom: current research and best-practice tips. , 2007, CBE life sciences education.

[10]  Daniel Zingaro,et al.  Experience Report: Peer Instruction in Remedial Computer Science , 2010 .

[11]  Mary Lee S. Ledbetter,et al.  Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action Presentation to Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, July 2011 , 2012, Journal of undergraduate neuroscience education : JUNE : a publication of FUN, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience.

[12]  L. Pauling,et al.  A COMPARISON OF ANIMAL HEMOGLOBINS BY TRYPTIC PEPTIDE PATTERN ANALYSIS. , 1960, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[13]  Ran Libeskind-Hadas,et al.  Computing for Biologists: Python Programming and Principles , 2014 .

[14]  P. Pevzner,et al.  Computing Has Changed Biology—Biology Education Must Catch Up , 2009, Science.

[15]  David L. Wheeler,et al.  GenBank , 2015, Nucleic Acids Res..

[16]  Sonya L Ranson,et al.  Communication skills instruction utilizing interdisciplinary peer teachers: program development and student perceptions. , 2008, Journal of dental education.

[17]  Roy P. Pargas,et al.  Things are clicking in computer science courses , 2006, SIGCSE '06.

[18]  Ran Libeskind-Hadas,et al.  Bio1 as CS1: evaluating a crossdisciplinary CS context , 2012, ITiCSE '12.

[19]  Effectiveness.  Common Data Set , 1999 .

[20]  Beth Simon,et al.  Peer instruction: do students really learn from peer discussion in computing? , 2011, ICER.

[21]  Quintin I. Cutts,et al.  Experience report: peer instruction in introductory computing , 2010, SIGCSE.