Together with theory and experimentation, computational modeling and simulation has become a “third pillar” of scientific enquiry. I am developing a curriculum for a three part, graduate level course on computational methods designed to increase the exposure of graduate students and researchers in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh to basic techniques used in computational modeling and simulation using the Python programming language. My course requires no prior knowledge or experience with computer programming or software development and all current and future course materials will be made freely available online via GitHub.