An Introductory Course on Modeling and Simulation

Abstract

We describe our experiences teaching CPSC 109 - Introduction to Modeling and Simulation, an introductory course that we developed [1]. The course fills one of two quantitative reasoning requirements for the general education program at the University of Mary Washington (UMW) and serves as one of two possible prerequisites for UMW's Computer Science 1 course [2]. It is also intended to serve as a bridge between computer science and other disciplines at UMW, particularly those in the natural and physical sciences. The course is based on the National Computational Science Institute (NCSI) [3] Introduction to Computational Thinking Workshop, but adds in an explicit emphasis on introductory programming concepts for several weeks to ensure adequate preparation for Computer Science 1. We discuss the tools the students use in the course, some assignments, and the projects that students have created at the end of the semester. In addition, we discuss a special version of the course we have created for students in UMW's honors program [4].