I did as well and believe my classes improved as a result.
I was taught "flow charting" as an attempt to teach coding without having to code. Of course, the teachers missed the point and forced template-driven syntactically correct charts that were more painful to build than the programs.
I have never taught software to complete novices, but I would think that it's difficult to teach something without teaching the thing. Have you tried the "wax on wax off" approach? That is, break things down into stunningly small pieces and build them together? You could spend days grounding on the fundamentals. (It works for training sports, rapid demonstrate/mimic/correct cycles on the basics)
I was taught "flow charting" as an attempt to teach coding without having to code. Of course, the teachers missed the point and forced template-driven syntactically correct charts that were more painful to build than the programs.
I have never taught software to complete novices, but I would think that it's difficult to teach something without teaching the thing. Have you tried the "wax on wax off" approach? That is, break things down into stunningly small pieces and build them together? You could spend days grounding on the fundamentals. (It works for training sports, rapid demonstrate/mimic/correct cycles on the basics)