Computer Science Standards
Computer Science Standards
Embedded Files
The SCC curriculum focuses on the following computing concepts and practices, aligned to the Georgia Introduction to Software Technology (IST) Standards and & Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Level 3A Standards.
Design
Design
In each unit students create their own “Design Visions” which focus on defining their audience for their digital product, identifying the goal that the product is meant to achieve and the resources necessary to achieve that goal, and specifying why their product is relevant to that audience. In the process, students grapple with issues of stereotypes, the implications of how problems are represented, and who gets included/excluded when audiences and products are being considered.
Problem/Product Decomposition
Problem/Product Decomposition
Students move from their Design Vision to creating a storyboard, and then to translating their story or narrative into code. Each step requires that students break the problem or product into smaller subproblems that they can tackle individually. In addition, each steps requires different set of skills (research, visual representation, storytelling, coding) which provides students with multiple ways of thinking and representing their problems.
Pattern Recognition
Pattern Recognition
The curriculum explicitly addresses pattern recognition in various forms. For example, during Unit 3, students identify musical patterns during unplugged activities, and then translate these musical patterns into repetitious code patterns to create their musical compositions using the EarSketch platform.
Algorithms, Programming and Debugging
Algorithms, Programming and Debugging
Using the browser-based EarSketch platform, students learn to code in Python or JavaScript using a multi-track digital audio workstation. In Unit 3, as students compose unique music, they manipulate loops, compose beats, remix sounds, apply effects, and debug their products. Later during Unit 4, as they create games, they learn about conditionals and logical operators.
Abstraction
Abstraction
In Unit 4, students are charged with designing a game related to their previously selected problem that engages the user, highlights important aspect(s) from their previously made website, and represents their problem without potential bias or deficit perspectives. Students engage in procedural abstractions as they analyze existing block code snippets from games they have previously explored and modify them to satisfy their own game’s design vision, user interactions, and data requirements.
Networks and the Internet
Networks and the Internet
Students investigate the nature of the internet and networks as they post their webpages. They “take a look under the hood" of the computer system and computing networks, examining how their inputs become a web page on Google's server, and how their web page on Google's server becomes displayed onto their client computer. They later explore wireless networks, evaluate computer systems and LAN topologies, and networking trends and issues.
Impacts of Computing
Impacts of Computing
Students in SCC explore the impacts of computing as they research how search engines select and present information, how different engines have the power to influence culture around them, and the differences between reliable and speculative information on the web. They also explore the impact of computer games by experiencing and reflecting on a civics game where the game player campaigns for a community issue, learns how to organize a movement around the issue, and engages community and elected leaders to raise awareness and support for the issue.
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