What's Going On? October 2nd through October 6th

Programming the Web 1

This week we will move on to our fifth lesson for the year.  During the week, we will focus on images and image maps.  This will also be the first week that we start using the industry-standard software, DreamWeaver.


 During the week, we will learn how to turn an image into a link as well as learn how to adjust the height and width of an image through the HTML code.  Students will also learn how to create an image map.  We will use a single picture of the midwest and be able to insert many links into it.  For example, a web user could click on "Milwaukee" to get to one site and "Chicago" to get to another.

This week, students will need to read chapter 7 in the textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide by Thursday.  We will also have 10 multiple choice questions during class on Friday.  Throughout the week, students will work on three different web page assignments.  Students are considered "on pace" for the class if all lesson 5 items are completed and turned in by the end of class on Friday.

App Development 1

This week, we will continue talking about operators and comparisons.  We ended last week talking about how Swift handles math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc).  We will talk more about comparison operators this week.

Once we have had a chance to try out these operators and comparisons in our Swift Playground, students will take a short formative assessment to make sure that we are on the right track.  Once we completed this check in assignment, we will talk a little bit more about how to place items precisely on our storyboard using constraints.  We will end the week with a partner project where students will need to find the errors in an existing Swift program.

AP Computer Science Principles

This week we will continue on with our study of Mobile Apps using MIT App Inventor.  Students will revisit the roles of variables in relation to App Inventor.  We will work with a given program and try to figure out the role of each variable in the app.  We will also add our own finishing touches to it.  During the course of the week, students will experiment with different variable roles, how to create a list and work with all the elements in the list, and the scope of a variable.

Learn Something New!

I recently read an article that highlighted the 50 best free online classes.  There are 19 different technology classes offered for FREE from schools around the world, including MIT and Harvard.

If you love what we are learning in class and are hungry for more, check out this website:

https://www.class-central.com/report/top-50-moocs-2017-edition/#technology.  Looking through the list, there are several courses offered in Python, a course on building a modern computer, and Harvard's Intro to Computer Science Course (CS50x).  If you have some spare time on your hands, it might be something to check out.

What's Going On? September 25th through September 29th

Have Trouble Seeing the Screen? There's An App For That!

I have realized that the setup of our lab does not give ideal seating locations for all students in the room.  I have been in contact with our technology department and they have a solution for us! 

A new app should be available for students soon in "Self Service" called "Spark".  Once it is available, students will need to download this onto their iPads.  I can then share the display computer desktop will all students in the room, giving a much better view of our code.  Students will be able to view the display screen on their own iPad and have the ability to zoom in when needed.  Hopefully, this will help to make every seat in the room an ideal seating location.


Programming the Web 1

This week, we will start our fourth unit of the year.  We will focus on how to create different types of links in a web page.  We will focus on absolute links and relative links.  We will also talk about how we can create an e-mail link as well as how to create links within a web page.

Along with this week, students will need to read chapter 6 in our textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide by Thursday.  We will have three different web pages to create throughout the week.  On Friday, students will complete their 10 multiple choice questions on the lesson.  This is just a reminder that the questions do count as a summative so be sure to preplan your answers!  Students will be considered "on pace" for the class if unit 4 is completed by the end of class on Friday.


App Development 1

This week, we will begin work on our "Multiply App" unit.  We will start off the week talking about more of the features of a textfield.  Specifically, we will talk about how a textfield can call up a keyboard and dismiss it when we are finished entering in our text.

We will also talk about how to create a "segmented controller" as an alternative to creating a lot of different buttons for our app.  We will finish up the week by talking about algorithms and some of the ways that Swift deals with mathematical operators (addition, subtraction, etc.)


AP Computer Science Principles

Now that our Scratch unit is complete, we will move on to our MIT App Inventor unit.  We will start Monday's class by talking about how a computer thinks about information.  Specifically, we will talk about binary, hexadecimal, and decimal numbering systems.  We will spend a little bit of time learning how to convert between two different systems.

Once we talk number systems, we will move on to creating apps for Android devices.  Students will have some tablets that they can use to test out their creations.  Students who have personal access to an Android device are also welcome to download their apps to their devices.

The MIT App Inventor programming environment is similar to what we have seen in Scratch.  We will use "drag and drop" code in order to create our program but we will have a lot more options and flexibility in what we create.  We will start by looking at some existing code and examining its purpose.  Once we figure out what the code does, we will add some more features to it.

What's Going On? September 18th through September 22nd

Programming the Web 1

This week, we will dive into our third lesson of the year.  In this lesson, we will learn about some more ways to mark up text using HTML tags.  Students will learn how to mark up quotes, about the different types of lists, about how to mark up large sections of text using "div" tags, and some other elements. 

Along with this week, students will read chapter 5 in the textbook and complete the accompanying reading guide.  Students will complete three different web assignments this week.  One assignment allows students to practice making lists, while the second and third assignments allow students to view a website and make decisions about appropriate HTML usage to mark up text.  We will finish the week with 10 multiple choice questions about the lesson.  Students are welcome and encouraged to view the multiple choice questions before the assessment and plan their answers.  Students are considered "on pace" for the class if they have completed all elements from lesson 3 by the end of class on Friday.

App Development 1

This week, students will finish up their "Variables Challenge" formative assignment.  For this assignment, students can choose to work alone or in pairs to work with a provided app framework.  Students create variables and use them within the app to display text on our app's storyboard.

Once this is complete, students will work on their first summative app assignment: "Hello World".  For this assignment, students will work to produce their own working app.  For this app, students will practice adding buttons, labels, and pictures.  For an extension, students can work with adding a new slider feature, adding some pictures, and modifying some of the elements programmatically (through the code).


AP Computer Science Principles

This week, students will have all four class days to work on our "Scratch" final project.  For this assignment, students can use their creativity to create a game or a story that adheres to the app's requirements.  You can view a sample Scratch story project here.  In order to practice for the AP requirements of the performance tasks, students will create a quick video and write a short summary of their app.  Later on in the year, students will be given a minimum of 12 hours of class time to complete this "Create" task, which includes creating an app, making a short video highlighting the best features of the app, and writing up a few summary responses.  While students are working on the "Create" task, I am not allowed to give feedback on specific student work.  During the practice task this week, I will focus on giving feedback in order to help students prepare for their best work for this critical performance task.

What's Going On? September 11th through September 15th

AP Computer Science Principles

This week, we will continue working with Scratch.  This week we will focus in on how functions/methods are used in Scratch as well as the role of variables.  Our Project Lead the Way curriculum has some terms for variables that can help us put their use into perspective.  Some of those terms include:

• Fixed: Set and never changed
• Most Recent: Changes dynamically as the program is running
• Accumulator: Keep a running total
• Aggregator: Collection of something, usually in a list
• Best-So-Far: Similar to most recent; doesn’t rewrite value unless better than previous value
• Stepper: Iterating through a loop; which step you are in the loop; first time through the loop
• Walker: Iterating through a loop; will change to a value depending on which step in the loop
• One-Way Flag: waits for something to happen in the running of the program to indicate that a certain point has been reached; For Example, in Mario Kart, once you go halfway you hit a checkpoint. You don’t start at the beginning, you start at the checkpoint.

This will lay the groundwork for when students have the chance to design their own Scratch project during the following week.

App Development 1

This week we will take a look at how to create variables in Swift.  We will talk about the type of information different variables can hold such as:

• Integers (whole numbers)
• Float (decimal numbers)
• Boolean (true and false)
• String (words)

We will also be completing a "Flashlight App" in class this week as a group.  Students will participate in this app as a "Hackwich".  In this "Hackwich", one student will act as the driver for the app.  The students will then be able to apply the same concepts in their own app.

Web Page Design

As students learned earlier, this course is offered in partnership with WCTC.  Students who choose to enroll in this program and earn a "C" or higher in the class will earn free credit through WCTC.  We will be completing the paperwork to enroll in the program this week.  Please talk this over at home to see if this is a good option for you.  Regardless of whether students choose to enroll in the WCTC program or not, all students will follow the same curriculum.

This week, we will finally get a chance to start creating web pages.  We will be working on Unit 2.  Along with this unit, students will need to read chapter 4 in the textbook as well as complete the accompanying reading guide to help pick out the most important concepts.  We will also have three web page assignments: 2A: Black Goose Bistro, 2B: Fix the Code, and 2C: Personal Web Page.  We will finish up the week with 10 multiple choice questions.  Students are considered "on pace" for the course if the unit 2 work is completed by the end of the week.

Students should have plenty of class time to get these items completed during class.  Students who need some additional time are invited to come in before school on Wednesday and/or Thursday from 7:00-8:00.  

Fun Fact: Debugging

This came through my inbox this week, from codecademy.com.  As we are getting our feet wet with the start of programming, we will surely come across some errors that we need to fix.  This is commonly referred to as "debugging".  I thought it was an interesting blurb about the origins of the term "debugging".

What's Going On? September 5th through September 8th

App Development 1

This week in app development, we will start to take a some of the elements that go into creating an app.  We will be exploring our software, XCode.  With this software, we will learn about the two parts necessary to create an app: the storyboard and the code.  The storyboard will determine what the app looks like and its features while the code will determine what happens in the app.  For example, this week we will learn how to place a button on our storyboard and then we will write some code that makes something happen.  This week, we will focus on creating buttons, labels and image views.

AP Computer Science Principles

This week we will start by reviewing our chapter 1 reading of the text, Blown to Bits.  After our discussion, we will dive into some programming concepts using the website lightbot.com.  This is a game-style programming simulation that will help students get a feel for writing code.  Once we have played with this site, we will move into another.  We will spend a couple of weeks investigating the Scratch programming platform.  Since this course is all about the underlying principles of computer programming, we will explore a few different languages and talk about the connections between them.

Programming the Web 1

This week, we will continue our study of unit 1: Web Basics.  During class on Friday, we started to talk about different ways that web designers may choose to create a website: with a fixed-width layout, a liquid layout, or a responsive site.  We will start to look at some of the websites we visit every day and decide how the web designer chose to create them.  During Wednesday's class, students will complete our first project 1A.  For this project, students will find an example of each type of layout.  Additionally this week, students will see the largest reading assignment for the course.  Since it is such a lengthy assignment, students will break up into small groups to summarize portions of the text.  The class will complete a "gallery walk" in order to get a brief synopsis of the content.  During this time, students will complete their weekly reading guide in order to prepare for Friday's ten question review question summative assessment.