The role of Calculus I in computer science education

Abstract

In 2021-2022, the Computer Science and Math departments at Colorado State University replaced the traditional two-course Calculus sequence (Calculus I and II) with a single-semester course tailored to computer science needs. Unintentionally, this change also led the department to accept classic Calculus I taken by students before they transferred into Computer Science as meeting the major's Calculus requirement. We now have four years of data regarding the success of Computer Science students who only took (some version) of Calculus I, vs. those who took both Calculus I and II. Our analysis of this data challenges a common assumption in CS education. Calculus II is often considered essential for success in mathematically-intensive CS courses. Yet we found no significant performance difference between students who completed both Calculus I and II and those who completed only Calculus I. Students performed equally well in CS courses - including Machine Learning - regardless of whether they took Calculus II. Perhaps surprisingly, the CS-focused Calculus course, though popular with students and faculty, did not produce significant improvements in student GPA for subsequent CS courses compared to the traditional sequence. This result suggests that while a CS-focused Calculus course may offer benefits, enhanced student performance in later CS coursework is not among them.