Splash Biography

Suppose you’re standing on a bridge over a set of train tracks. Below, five people are tied down to the tracks, and to your horror, a train is fast approaching. You are sure the train would run them all over. Luckily, on the bridge in front of you is a very, very large man. He is already leaning over the railing – it would be easy for you to push the large man off the bridge. The train would then run him over, but his size would grind the train to a stop, preventing the five people tied down to the tracks from being killed. Would you push the large man? In this course, we will explore some philosophical dilemmas, hear arguments for and against various courses of action, and then attempt to justify those arguments through broader philosophical theories, such as utilitarianism and Kantianism, and contractualism. By the end of the course, students might even be better at making moral decisions!

This course will introduce some of the most common sorting algorithms used in computer science. We will cover insertion, selection, and merge sort, with an emphasis on investigating the efficiency of the algorithms. We will be covering the theory behind the algorithms as opposed to the code; therefore, no previous coding experience is required. Although the course will be primarily lecture based, we will try to provide as many opportunities for student engagement as is possible. The course will culminate in a sorting challenge, where students will be tasked with identifying various sorting algorithms through various pieces of information about an array that is being sorted.