Syllabus for "Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science"

This is the syllabus for a course to teach non-programmers to think in computing terms about modern topics, and to approach real-world phenomena through data science. The course will enable students to: 1) Acquire computational thinking skills that will enable students to represent and reason about complex problems in the digital arena, 2) Understand different kinds of data in terms of their possibilities and limitations to approach complex problems cast in terms of the emerging field of data science, 3) Become data science scholars through best practices in data documentation and dissemination. The course is intended for students in disciplines outside of computer science, so no prior experience with computer science is assumed. The course topics will be particularly relevant to students interested in physical sciences and social sciences.