Computing Science

Course Overview

The purpose of this course is to further develop learners’ Computing skills and build on the knowledge, practical skills and problem solving techniques gained at National 5. As at N5, the course is split into 4 areas of study:

Software Design & Development: On completion of this area of study, learners will be able to:

• Design and write modular programs that read data in from files and/or write data to files.

• Demonstrate an understanding of programming language by explaining, using appropriate terminology, how extended programs work.

• Demonstrate an understanding of standard algorithms and be able to use these in a practical setting.

• Learn about different design and implementation methodologies as well as different types of programming languages.

Computer Systems: On completion of this area of study, learners will be able to:

• Explain, in detail, how data of different types is stored and processed within a computer system.

• Compare and contrast different hardware and storage solutions

Database Design & Development: On completion of this area of study, learners will be able to:

• Design, create and manipulate relational databases containing 3 or more tables of data.

• Use SQL to manipulate the data stored.

• Describe in detail the legal, security, environmental, social and hardware issues surrounding the implementation of relational database systems.

Web Design & Development: On completion of this area of study, learners will be able to:

• Use html code, cascading style sheets and Java Script to create interactive webpages.

• Describe in detail the legal, security, environmental, social and hardware issues surrounding the implementation of websites.

Homework

The completion of homework is an important part of this course. As well as regular, formal homework exercises, you will be expected to complete tasks started in class and catch up on work missed through absence at home. On some occasions you will be expected to come into the department during lunchtime or a study period to catch up on practical work.

Assessment Approaches

Course assessment at Higher:

• Course Examination (69% of the total mark)

• Coursework Assignment (31% of the total mark)

Course Examination: Question Paper

This written question paper will have 110 marks. Section 1 will have 25 marks and consists of nine or ten short answer questions. Section 2 will have 85 marks and consist of six or seven extended response questions, each based around a scenario, that integrate topics from the full range of course content.

Coursework Assignment:

The practical coursework assignment is marked out of 50 and will assess learners’ skills in analysing a problem, designing a solution to the problem, implementing a solution to the problem and testing and reporting on their solution. This piece of work is 8 hours long and is completed towards the end of the course.