Week 1

Day 1

We’re in this together

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:3-4

Serving each other by helping each other learn

Day 2

Only when Week 1 has 3 days…

Exercise 1.a.1

Form teams of two. The 1st student, the explainer, explains how to draw an image. The explainer:

  • knows what the image is supposed to be.
  • may not use their hands.
  • may only specify actions the drawer knows how to perform.

The 2nd student, the drawer, draws the image as specified. The drawer:

  • doesn’t know what the image is supposed to be.
  • can follow directions like:
    • go forward 10 units
    • turn right 90 degrees
    • pick your pen up and put your pen down
  • can’t remember anything.

Exercise 1.a.2

Explain what the following algorithm does.

  1. Given: two positive natural numbers a & b
  2. Set remainder = some non-zero value
  3. Repeat these steps until remainder = 0
    1. Set remainder = the remainder of a divided by b
    2. If remainder = 0 Then
      1. Print GCD is b
    3. Else
      1. Set a = b and b = remainder
    4. Go on to the next repetition
  4. Test Cases: GCD(36,16)→4; GCD(1,1)→1; GCD(1260,198)→18

Exercise 1.a.3

Form groups and use a stack of index cards according to these rules:

  • Write the first name of each person in the group on a separate card.
  • The cards start in a row, side-by-side, face down on the table.
  • The person moving the cards can only have one card in each hand at any point (i.e. they can only look at the values of two cards).
  • The instructions cannot require the person to remember the value of a card they’ve put down; such values must be written down.
  • The algorithm can use the space on the table in any manner.

Write algorithms to do the following.

  1. Count — Count the number of cards.
  2. Search — Find a card by name.
  3. Sort — Reorder the set of cards in alphabetical order.

Friday

Lab Recap

  • On your own, write the solution to the “square area” problem without looking at what you did in lab.
  • Compare your solution with people around you. Try to find someone who took a different approach!
  • Discuss with each other
    • What challenges you faced in lab
    • What you’re curious about or tried on your own
    • How you felt about the lab, and this class so far

Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)

What

  • based on research on how people learn most effectively
  • team activities to construct understanding of key concepts
  • develop process skills: communication, critical thinking, problem solving
  • The instructor is not a lecturer, but an active facilitator of student learning

How

Form teams of three:

  • a programmer (runs the exercises in Thonny)
  • a recorder (writes the team’s answers to the exercises)
  • a manager/presenter (keeps the team on track; interacts with class)

POGIL

Form teams of three:

  • a programmer (runs the exercises in Thonny)
  • a recorder (writes the team’s answers to the exercises)
  • a manager/presenter (keeps the team on track; interacts with class)

Activities for CS1 in Python, Introduction to Python:

  1. Model 1. Getting Started with Thonny
  2. Model 2. Python Build-In Functions
  3. Model 3. Variables and Assignment

These exercises are available as editable PDFs. If editing doesn’t work for you, try a different browser or PDF viewer.

Sabbath

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deut 5:12)

Traits

What are the traits that you think make for a good computer scientist?

Retrieval Quizzes

Why: (see other presentation)

How:

  • Install the Socrative phone app, or Google “Socrative student login”
  • Use the room CS106
  • For name, use your Calvin Email
    • you can leave out the @calvin.edu part