Computer Science - Post GCSE

Computer Science

• The topic of Computer Science is at the heart of the modern world

• The course is assessed by 2 exams and a programming project

• Studying it can make you extremely sought after in todays job market

• The transition from GCSE to A level is significant, this includes:

• An increased emphasis on technical content

• An increased emphasis independent research This workbook is designed to allow you to practice some of these skills and build on your existing knowledge.

The following tasks have been taken from our Computer Science Transition Workbook which can be downloaded here

1. “Tell me about yourself”

Expected time to complete: ½ hour

In this simple task you get the opportunity to tell me your choices and reasons behind choosing to study Computer Science. Please answer all questions as best you can.

1. Why did you choose Computer Science?

2. Why did you choose to study A level Computer Science?

3. What other courses have you chosen to study at Key Stage 5, and what made you choose this combination?

4. What are you hoping to achieve from studying Computer Science?

5. How would you describe yourself as a learner at GCSE? What skills where you good at, what areas would you like to improve on?

6. What are your other hobbies and interests outside of school? Anything related to Computing?

2. Independent research task

Expected time to complete: 2 hours

In this task you get to investigate any area of emerging computer technology which interests you.

You can pick any area which interests you, but examples could be:

• Artificial intelligence

• Robotics

• Automated self driving cards

• Quantum computing

In no more than ONE side of A4 summarise the area you have chosen under the following four headings:

1. What is it?

2. What are the possible Social, Moral, Cultural and Ethical benefits of this technology on society

3. What are the possible Social, Moral, Cultural and Ethical risks of this technology on society

4. My conclusion on this technology and what it will mean for our world 10 years from now

For additional help and support in structuring your answer you might like to watch some of the videos from the following Craig ‘n’ Dave playlists:

1. OCR

2. SLR 17 – Ethical, morale and cultural issues

3. https://student.craigndave.org/videos/slr-17-ethical-moral-and-cultural-issues

4. AQA:

5. SLR 19: Moral, social, legal, cultural issues https://student.craigndave.org/videos/slr19-moral-social-legal-cultural-issues

3. What is “computational thinking”?

Expected time to complete: 2 hours

Thinking like a computer

At the heart of Computer Science is the ability to look at problems, analyse them, break them down and solve them in a way which involves a variety of “Computational Thinking” skills.

1. Download the “Computational thinking and Computational methods placemats” from Craig n Dave:

https://student.craigndave.org/specification-key-terminology-and-cheat-sheets

2. Create your own spider diagram / mind map which shows your clear understanding of the 5 different computational thinking strands

• Keep it to a single side of A4 / A3

3. Your goal is to imagine someone else has to revise from your mind map. Ask yourself:

• Does it make sense?

• Is it clear?

• Does it cover all of the important concepts?

4. Note taking practice task

Expected time to complete: 1.5 hours

The expectation to do independent research at A Level will increase dramatically from GCSE.

There is a real skill to taking decent notes outside of lesson which are of value. Research has proven that one of the most effective methods is the “Cornell” note taking method.

1. To start download the “Cornell note taking template” from Craig n Dave:

https://craigndave.org/cornell-note-taking/

2. Pick any two of the following videos from Craig ‘n’ Dave:

• OCR: https://student.craigndave.org/videos/ocr-alevel-slr01-alu-cu-registers-and-buses

• OCR: https://student.craigndave.org/videos/ocr-alevel-slr04-paging-segmentation-and-virtual-memory

• OCR: https://student.craigndave.org/videos/ocr-alevel-slr05-stages-of-compilation

• OCR: https://student.craigndave.org/videos/ocr-alevel-slr14-data-structures-part-2-graphs

Write the title of the video and its topic in the top boxes (use a different sheet for each video).

3. In the main “Notes” section, write notes from the video. You can do this in any way you like, a suggestion might be to rewind slightly when the canvas changes, thinking carefully about what was important in the previous few minutes.

4. Having recorded the notes, review them:

• Turn each part into a question in the section on the left.

• For example, the notes may say, “The value of the program counter is passed to the memory address register”.

• The question then becomes, “which register is the value of the program counter passed to?”

• Sometimes these questions are easy, and at times they are more difficult to write.

• There may also be more than one valid question.

• You will need to decide for yourself which are the most appropriate questions for revision.

5. Finally pull out all the key words and their definitions words the notes and list them in the bottom section.

5. Key terms task

Expected time to complete: 2 hours

An important aspect of being successful with your study of Computer Science is getting to grips with subject related terminology. There are over 240 specific terms you will need to learn! Below are a handful of the key terms you will need to become familiar with. Below are a handful of the key terms you will need to become familiar with.

Control Unit Register Busses

Von Neuman Architecture Optical Storage Operating System

Intermediate Code Device Driver Compiler

Assembly Language Machine Code Lossy Compression

Hashing Normalisation TCP/IP Stack

Packet Switching ASCII Problem Decomposition

1. Research each of the key terms and write a definition.

2. Resist the urge to simply cut and paste a definition from the first website you find. Many definitions found on The Internet are overly complicated and wordy.

3. Ask yourself:

• Does my definition make sense?

• Is it succinct, to the point?

• Does the definition have appropriate depth and detail for A’Level?

• Could I give this definition to another student so they could revise from it

6. An introduction to the basics of programming tasks

Expected time to complete: 2 hours

Learning to “code” is a fun and essential part of A Level Computer Science. This task is ideal if you haven't done the GCSE in Computer Science or you simply want a nice refresher ahead of starting your A Level course.

1. Head over to the web site: https://www.learnpython.org/

2. Complete the following python tutorials under the heading:

• Hello, World!

• Variables and Types

• Lists

• Basic Operators

• String Formatting

• Basic String Operations

• Conditions

• Loops

• Functions

Each section presents you with theory, code to run and exercises to try out.

If you want to practice writing your own python programs you can download and install a simple python development tool here: https://www.python.org/downloads/