Has our curriculum become math-phobic? (an American perspective)

Abstract

We are concerned about a view in undergraduate computer science education, especially in the early courses, that it's okay to be math-phobic and still prepare oneself to become a computer scientist. Our view is the contrary: that any serious study of computer science requires students to achieve mathematical maturity (especially in discrete mathematics) early in their undergraduate studies, thus becoming well-prepared to integrate mathematical ideas, notations, and methodologies throughout their study of computer science. A major curricular implication of this theme is that the prerequisite expectations and conceptual level of the first discrete mathematics course should be the same as it is for the first calculus course -secondary school pre-calculus and trigonometry. Ultimately, calculus, linear algebra, and statistics are also essential for computer science majors, but none should occur earlier than discrete mathematics.This paper explains our concerns and outlines our response as a series of examples and recommendations for future action.

A History of the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium and its Model Curricula

“…-developing an initial "model curriculum" [Gibbs and Tucker 1986] designed to be compatible with the liberal arts orientations of the participating schools, -maintaining currency in the "model curriculum" reflecting ongoing development and technical changes in computing [Walker and Schneider 1996;Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium 2007], -pioneering the design and development of the laboratory component of the computer science curriculum [Parker et al 1990], -providing justification for the importance of mathematical ideas in computer science [Bruce et al 2003;Tucker et al 2001;Kelemen et al 2000], -providing a resource for the evaluation of computer science programs nationwide, -providing lecturer/workshop exchanges among members and their host institutions, -developing collaborative projects among members, -providing a forum for exchange of ideas and discussion of problems common to computer scientists at small liberal arts colleges, -developing research-oriented capstone experiences for the undergraduate degree in computer science.…”

Support for teaching formal methods

“…However, students (and some faculty) often resist the use of mathematics in the study of computing. There are many explanations for this resistance: students may lack the proper preparation or motivation; many individuals have neither an understanding of nor appreciation for the role of mathematics (formal methods) in computing [26]; and some feel intimidated by (and even fearful of) the level of mathematical knowledge and capability they believe is required.…”

Our curriculum has become math-phobic!

“…(An American Perspective) " at ITiCSE 2000 [2]. The questions with responses tallied are given in Figure 1.…”

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The paper [2] argued that mathematical ideas play an important role in the computer science curriculum, and that Discrete Mathematics needs to be taught early in the computer science curriculum. In this follow-up paper, we present evidence that computer science curricula are drifting away from a fundamental commitment to theoretical and mathematical ideas.

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