Welcome to AP Computer Science Principles




This week we are going to be working on the following:

AP Computer Science Class – Unit 2 – Digital Information

To Think; To Develop Problem-Solving Skills; To Discover; and To Create;

Learning to Compute and Computing to Learn

Classroom Protocol:

 

This is where you will come every day to find out what we are going to do in class for that day. Every day you are to come to your Quia class web page upon arriving to class, go to your class web page, and follow the directions for today.

 

Homework Policy:

 

All assignments will be due on the deadline date given. It is the responsibility for all students to complete their assignments on time. Any assignments received late will not be accepted and a grade will not be given for that assignment.

Accessing your Class Weekly Agenda:

Each week’s agenda and assignments will be updated and posted on your Quia class web page on a weekly basis.  Previous weeks Assignments/Agendas will be provided with a link at the end of the current week’s Class Web Page in case you need to revisit due to an absence, or you’re required to make up, or catch up on your course assignments.

Homework Assignment: Daily homework assignments may be found at the end of each day’s agenda.

 

F Day – Lunch 11:35 – 11:59

IMPORTANT DATES:     Saturday December 10  (8 – 12) Grafton - AP Study Session

                                      Saturday March 4 (8 – 12) Millbury - AP Study Session

 

This Week’s Agenda:

Introduction to UNIT 2: Digital Information: This unit further explores the ways that digital information is encoded, represented and manipulated. Being able to digitally manipulate data, visualize it, and identify patterns, trends and possible meanings are important practical skills that computer scientists do every day. Understanding where data comes from, having intuitions about what could be learned or extracted from it, and being able to use computational tools to manipulate data and communicate about it are the primary skills addressed in the unit.

Chapter 1: Encoding and Compressing Complex Information

Big Questions

 

·         Are the ways in which digital information is encoded more laws of nature or man made?

·         What kinds of limitations does the binary encoding of information impose on what can be represented inside a computer?

·         How accurately can human experience and perception be captured or reflected in digital information?

 

Enduring Understandings

 

·         1.1 Creative development can be an essential process for creating computational artifacts.

·         1.3 Computing can extend traditional forms of human expression and experience.

·         2.1 A variety of abstractions built upon binary sequences can be used to represent all digital data.

·         3.3 There are trade offs when representing information as digital data.

Vocabulary

AND

Programming and Cell Phone Apps

Continued

 

Monday 11-7-16 – Day D

Standard:

Demonstrate proficiency in the use of computers and applications, as well as an understanding of the concepts underlying hardware, software, and connectivity.

Objective:

 

Introduction to computers and technology in relation to the 21st Century Skills and Financial and Technology literacy necessary to be successful in today’s technology oriented society.

 

Activator: Open up your Engineering Journal and review what you entered last class

Direct Instruction and Guided Practice

Students will present their Explore Performance Task and will discuss as a class (collaboration) to determine how we can improve in moving forward.

Summarizer:

Mr. PC will review each day what each student accomplished and the focus of tomorrow.

Assessment for/of learning:

Students are to be assessed on their Explore Performance Task presentation and group discussion.  

Ticket to Leave:

In order to prepare you for your two AP CSP college-board performance tasks we need to get use to reflecting on our daily work and experiences. This is a skill that will prove to be useful when you go on to college, enter the workforce, and even in every aspect of your everyday life.  Every day at the end of class you should save your work, open up your journal, put down today’s date, and provide the following information.

1.   Provide at least on new thing that you learned today – Refer to today’s Objectives

2.   What did you accomplish today?

3.   Indicate any problems or obstacles you experienced

4.   How did you solve the problems or obstacles that you experienced?

Feel free to provide screen shots of your daily work in order to illustrate your day’s activities. Windows provides a Snipping Tool within its provided Accessories that may be used for this purpose.

Homework: Due next class!

1)   Create a personal 16x16 favicon and encode it using the Pixelation Widget on the final level of this lesson in Code Studio.

2)   The image you make should represent your personality in some distinctive way. You will be using this favicon in future lessons and web sites that you make, so be creative and thoughtful.

3)   After you have finished your favicon, share it with others in the class by sending them the bits with the Internet Simulator Widget!

 

Requirements:

Things to think about

Tuesday 11-8-2016– No School – Teacher Professional Development

 

NOTE:   Don’t forget the Student/Faculty Basketball Game Tonight!

 

Standards Alignment

CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards

CT - Computational Thinking

Computer Science Principles

2.1 - A variety of abstractions built upon binary sequences can be used to represent all digital data.

2.1.1 - Describe the variety of abstractions used to represent data. [P3]

2.1.2 - Explain how binary sequences are used to represent digital data. [P5]

3.3 - There are trade offs when representing information as digital data.


Activator: Open up your Engineering Journal and review what you entered last class. Review the Standards, Objectives, above, for today’s lesson. Click on https://studio.code.org/ and log in. Locate the Unit 2: The Internet tile and click ‘View course’.

 

Direct Instruction and Guided Instruction: No School

Ticket to Leave:

In order to prepare you for your two AP CSP college-board performance tasks we need to get use to reflecting on our daily work and experiences. This is a skill that will prove to be useful when you go on to college, enter the workforce, and even in every aspect of your everyday life.  Every day at the end of class you should save your work, open up your journal, put down today’s date, and provide the following information.

1.   Provide at least on new thing that you learned today – Refer to today’s Objectives

2.   What did you accomplish today?

3.   Indicate any problems or obstacles you experienced

4.   How did you solve the problems or obstacles that you experienced?

Feel free to provide screen shots of your daily work in order to illustrate your day’s activities. Windows provides a Snipping Tool within its provided Accessories that may be used for this purpose.

Homework: Due Tomorrow!

1)   Create a personal 16x16 favicon and encode it using the Pixelation Widget on the final level of this lesson in Code Studio.

2)   The image you make should represent your personality in some distinctive way. You will be using this favicon in future lessons and web sites that you make, so be creative and thoughtful.

3)   After you have finished your favicon, share it with others in the class by sending them the bits with the Internet Simulator Widget!

 

Requirements:

Things to think about

Wednesday 11-9-2016 – Day E

Lesson 7: Introduction to Data

In this kickoff to the Data Unit, you will begin thinking about how data is collected and what can be learned from it. You will be introduced to the Class Data Tracker project that will run through the first half of this unit, and be asked to make predictions of what you will find when all the data has been collected in a couple weeks.

NOTE: Quarter 1 Grades Close

You have all done a Great Job this Quarter!

Standards Alignment

CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards

CL – Collaboration

CPP - Computing Practice & Programming

CT - Computational Thinking

Computer Science Principles

3.1 - People use computer programs to process information to gain insight and knowledge.

3.2 - Computing facilitates exploration and the discovery of connections in information.

7.3 - Computing has a global affect -- both beneficial and harmful -- on people and society.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

Activator: Open up your Engineering Journal and review what you entered last class. Review the Standards, Objectives, above, for today’s lesson. Click on https://studio.code.org/ and log in. Locate the Unit 2: and click ‘View course’.

Direct Instruction:

Data Tracker Link

You are going to complete this survey every day in class for the next several weeks. By the end, we should have a hundred entries. You’ve seen the questions and have taken a quick glimpse at the results. What do you think we might be able to find out in a few weeks?

Prompt:

“Write down one or two hypotheses (predictions) about what we might be able to find out about our class, assuming that everyone fills out this survey every day for a few weeks.”

 

Guided Instruction:

Click on the following link and take the following quiz:

How Much of a Left and Right-Brained Person Are You? - Link

When you are done I want you to share the results of the quiz with the rest of the class.

Personal Favicon:

Assessment for/of learning: Daily survey and results of the quiz in guided instruction.

Summarizer: Mr. PC will review each day what each student accomplished and the focus of tomorrow.

Ticket to Leave:

In order to prepare you for your two AP CSP college-board performance tasks we need to get use to reflecting on our daily work and experiences. This is a skill that will prove to be useful when you go on to college, enter the workforce, and even in every aspect of your everyday life.  Every day at the end of class you should save your work, open up your journal, put down today’s date, and provide the following information.

1.   Provide at least on new thing that you learned today – Refer to today’s Objectives

2.   What did you accomplish today?

3.   Indicate any problems or obstacles you experienced

4.   How did you solve the problems or obstacles that you experienced?

Feel free to provide screen shots of your daily work in order to illustrate your day’s activities. Windows provides a Snipping Tool within its provided Accessories that may be used for this purpose.

Homework:

 

Every day for the next couple of weeks please do the following as part of our chapter on Data Collection:

 

Fill out this form EVERY DAY, or as frequently as possible over the next few weeks.  We will look at the results more fully in Lesson 7 of this unit.  

 

Data Tracker Link

 

Thursday 11-10-2016 – Day F

Standard: Demonstrate the ability to use technology for research, critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation.

 

Topic: Research, Problem-Solving, and Communications Research

3.1 Devise and demonstrate strategies for efficiently collecting and organizing information from electronic sources.

Problem Solving

3.5 Explain and demonstrate how specialized technology tools can be used for problem solving, decision making, and creativity.

 

Objective:

 

Evaluate the importance of learning about computer systems in terms of relevant professions

Identify general computer systems/programming terms

Deduce the skills and knowledge about computer systems needed to be successful in an authentic project

Demonstrate the ability to enter and modify source code statements using editing capabilities

Develop a simple graphics program

Demonstrate the ability to debug statements, distinguishing between syntax and semantic errors

Identify input, process, and output in a program

 

Activator: Open up your Engineering Journal and review what you entered last class. Review the Standards, Objectives, above, for today’s lesson.

Direct Instruction and Guided Practice:

Click Here to Access Your Development Environment

 

 

1) Click on the Tutorial below and follow the directions to create the NoText While Driving App. 

 

Directions for the No Text While Driving App

 

This app is a must to ensure your safety when you, a family member, or a friend is driving.

 

Summarizer:

Mr. PC will review each day what each student accomplished and the focus of tomorrow.

Assessment for/of learning:

Students are to be assessed on the design of the No Text While Driving App and installing it on their phone.  It is strongly recommended that this App is used whenever they are driving to ensure their safety and the safety of others.

Ticket to Leave:

In order to prepare you for your two AP CSP college-board performance tasks we need to get use to reflecting on our daily work and experiences. This is a skill that will prove to be useful when you go on to college, enter the workforce, and even in every aspect of your everyday life.  Every day at the end of class you should save your work, open up your journal, put down today’s date, and provide the following information.

1.   Provide at least on new thing that you learned today – Refer to today’s Objectives

2.   What did you accomplish today?

3.   Indicate any problems or obstacles you experienced

4.   How did you solve the problems or obstacles that you experienced?

Feel free to provide screen shots of your daily work in order to illustrate your day’s activities. Windows provides a Snipping Tool within its provided Accessories that may be used for this purpose.

 

Homework:

 

Due Today!  Personalized Favicon!

 

Every day for the next couple of weeks please do the following as part of our chapter on Data Collection:

 

Fill out this form EVERY DAY, or as frequently as possible over the next few weeks.  We will look at the results more fully in Lesson 7 of this unit.  

 

Data Tracker Link

 

Friday 11-11-16 – No School – Veteran’s Day – Thank a Veteran for their service today!

Standards Alignment

CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards

CL – Collaboration

CPP - Computing Practice & Programming

CT - Computational Thinking

 

Activator: Open up your Engineering Journal and review what you entered last class. Review the Standards, Objectives, above, for today’s lesson. Click on https://studio.code.org/ and log in. Locate the Unit 1: The Internet tile and click ‘View course’.

 

Direct Instruction and Guided Instruction: No Class

Ticket to Leave:

In order to prepare you for your two AP CSP college-board performance tasks we need to get use to reflecting on our daily work and experiences. This is a skill that will prove to be useful when you go on to college, enter the workforce, and even in every aspect of your everyday life.  Every day at the end of class you should save your work, open up your journal, put down today’s date, and provide the following information.

1.   Provide at least on new thing that you learned today – Refer to today’s Objectives

2.   What did you accomplish today?

3.   Indicate any problems or obstacles you experienced

4.   How did you solve the problems or obstacles that you experienced?

Feel free to provide screen shots of your daily work in order to illustrate your day’s activities. Windows provides a Snipping Tool within its provided Accessories that may be used for this purpose.

Homework:

 

Every day for the next couple of weeks please do the following as part of our chapter on Data Collection:

 

Fill out this form EVERY DAY, or as frequently as possible over the next few weeks.  We will look at the results more fully in Lesson 7 of this unit.  

 

Data Tracker Link

 

Thanks for a great week!

Mr. PC 

 

Every day for the next couple of weeks please do the following as part of our chapter on Data Collection:

 

Fill out this form EVERY DAY, or as frequently as possible over the next few weeks.  We will look at the results more fully in Lesson 7 of this unit.

Data Tracker Link

 

Explore Performance Task Rubric

More Resources for finding computing innovations:

http://www.ted.com/talks

 

www.digg.com

 

http://www.teachersdomain.org

 

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/

 

www.paper.li

 

Tools for building computing artifacts:

 

http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/

 

To Due: Create Digital Portfolios for Performance Tasks Submissions. Our goal is to complete our Explore Performance Task before the end of 2016.

·         Begin preparing for the May 5th Exam with practice exam questions from AP training google drive and the career board. Use online student response system for class review and discussion.

 

Unit 1 Vocabulary

 

Vocabulary

 

Setting up the APP Inventor and Emulator for Testing

 

Setting Up App Inventor 2

You can set up App Inventor and start building apps in minutes. The Designer and Blocks Editor now run completely in the browser (aka the cloud). To see your app on a device while you build it (also called "Live Testing"), you'll need to follow the steps below.


You have three options for setting up live testing while you build apps

If you are using an Android device and you have a wireless internet connection, you can start building apps without downloading any software to your computer. You will need to install the App Inventor Companion App for your device. Choose Option One below. This option is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

 

For Class Use this Option: If you do not have an Android device, you'll need to install software on your computer so that you can use the on-screen Android emulator. Choose Option Two below.

 

If you do not have a wireless internet connection, you'll need to install software on your computer so that you can connect to your Android device over USB. Choose Option Three below. The USB Connection option can be tricky, especially on Windows. Use this as a last resort.

 

Option One - RECOMMENDED
Build apps with an Android device and WiFi Connection (preferred): 
Instructions

If you have a computer, an Android device, and a WiFi connection, this is the easiest way to test your apps.

********* Option Two – use these instructions for class! **********
Don’t have an Android device? Use the Emulator: Instructions

If you don’t have an Android phone or tablet handy, you can still use App Inventor. Have a class of 30 students? Have them work primarily on emulators and share a few devices.

Option Three
No WiFi? Build apps with an Android device and USB Cable: 
Instructions

Some firewalls within schools and organizations disallow the type of WiFi connection required. If WiFi doesn’t work for you, try USB.

 

System requirements

Note: Internet Explorer is not supported. We recommend Chrome or Firefox.

 

1)Setup your emulator by following these Instructions

2)Check out the Designer and Blocks Editor Overview

Designer and Blocks Editor Overview: Gives a tour of the App Inventor environment.

 

3) Setup Review the following Beginner Tutorials

 

Beginner Tutorials: Highly recommended as the best way to get started programming in App Inventor.

 

 

Click Here to Access Your Development Environment

 

 

AP CSP Week 1 Daily Agenda  

AP CSP Week 2 Agenda

AP CSP Week 3 Agenda  

AP CSP Week 4 Agenda

AP CSP Week 5 Agenda  

AP CSP Week 6 Agenda

AP CSP Week 7 Agenda

AP CSP Week 8 Agenda  

AP CSP Week 9 Agenda