A PROGRAMMING COURSE: TO FOSTER CRITICAL THINKING IN LIBERAL ARTS STUDENTS' MIND

An introductory programming course can instill critical thinking, logical reasoning and problem solving skills to liberal arts students which they can later apply to their respective disciplines.Computer Programming is the process of solving problems.However, learning programming is a complicated business as it involves multiple processes and various skills.A profound understanding of the design activity of successive decomposition in programming may result in significant educational benefits in many areas, including those unrelated to computer science.This paper presents an approach to teach an introductory programming course focusing at first on the development of the steps of algorithm using pseudocode, instead on the syntax of the language itself.For beginners programming language syntax can be very discouraging and intimidating.Student's interests are withdrawn if they are introduced to the syntax at the very beginning.At this stage of learning the goal should be capturing the essence of designing a solution instead of focusing on the complexity of the programming language implementation.Laboratory experiments are designed to solve small scale real world problems where students acquire hands on experience through algorithm animation.Bringing an algorithm in life through animation can help students understand logistics what the algorithm does and how it works.Most importantly, the course aims to help students, irrespective of their major, feel confident to write small programs accomplishing useful goals.