http://www.thesimpledollar.com/10-college-degrees-that-could-pay-off-in-2015/
Here is another article to share with your Computer Science students.
Getting a degree that will lead to a job someday is pretty important.
Computer Science tops out the list at #1!
Well, it is almost summer time so get ready to rock and roll with some summer fun learning more about Computer Science.
http://www.apluscompsci.com/workshops.htm
Check out my workshops page to see what I have going this summer.
Check out Glen Martin’s page to find some other AP SIs for the summer of 2015.
http://www.martin.apluscomputerscience.com/workshops.html
Have a great summer and good luck to all on upcoming contests and the 2015 AP CS A Exam.
Looking for some great professional development for AP CS A? Look no further.
Judy Hromcik and Glen Martin will be running a spectacular 2 day event on Feb 6th and 7th in Addison, Texas.
If you need help withe AP CS A, check it out.
The new AP CS A Labs will be discussed in great detail.
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/InstitutesAndWorkshops/viewEvent?eventid=5056
If you are looking for an awesome AP CS A Summer Institute, check out my workshops page.
2015-2016 Curriculum Material Information is now posted.
http://www.apluscompsci.com/aplus_curr_mat_orderform_2015.pdf
The 2015 A+ Computer Science Curriculum will include many new updates.
Intro CS Curriculum Materials
More Python materials
Multiple Python versions will be supported.
AP CS Principles
Expanded CS Principles materials
Python and Scratch materials for CS Principles
AP Computer Science A
New Java Labs, Slides, and Tests
Current exam trends are always included in updates.
Expanded support for the New AP CS A Labs – Magpie, Picture Lab, and Elevens
Advanced Computer Science
Dynamic Programming Assignments and Materials
The 2014-2015 A+ Computer Science Materials are ready for download.
New Scratch materials are included! More game projects.
Python materials are now included – slides, examples, worksheets, quizzes, and tests!
Materials for multiple Computer Science courses are fully supported!
Materials for the New AP CS A Labs – Magpie, Elevens, and PictureLab are included!
The following provides more information on the new AP CS A Labs and the A+ support provided for these new Labs.
Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, the GridWorld case study has been eliminated as a requirement for the AP Computer Science A curriculum. To ensure that students spend enough time on hands-on labs, the College Board has added a 20-hour lab requirement for students. To support the implementation of the 20-hour lab requirement, College Board has provided three exemplar labs for teachers to use. These labs will not be directly tested on the AP Computer Science A exam.
To read the official College Board announcement about this lab requirement, follow this link: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/221994.html
To access resources for the new labs including student lab guides, follow this link : http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/222163.html
To access source code and teacher guides for the new labs, go the AP CS A Course Audit link : http://www.collegeboard.com/html/apcourseaudit/courses/computer_science.html
It is important that you read this information and visit the AP Audit site to attest to your understanding of this requirement to use these labs in your course or submit a new syllabus that clearly indicates that you are allowing at least 20 hours of lab time for your students. You may submit one of the four approved syllabi provided by the College Board, the A+ Computer Science approved syllabus, or your create a syllabus of your own.
The goal of the A+ Computer Science materials for the New Labs is to provide support materials for Magpie, Elevens, and Picture labs and to integrate these materials with the existing A+ Computer Science materials. These new AP CS A labs are not intended to be new teaching units that must be added to your curriculum. Instead they are intended to be labs that you can use to reinforce concepts that you have already taught, much like the extensive set of labs that you find throughout the A+ Computer Science curriculum.
In the new 2014-2015 A+ Computer Science Curriculum, you will find teacher notes for each of the exemplar labs that describe what testable concepts the labs cover and when in the curriculum you might use the lab exercises. You will also find Powerpoint slides and worksheets to support each of the new exemplar labs.
Main topics covered by each of the new AP CS A Labs :
Magpie – Classes, randomness, and Strings – specifically indexOf(), substring(), and lots of Math.random()
Elevens – List of references – specifically using an ArrayList < SomeClass > / List < SomeClass >
Picture Lab – Matrices / Matrices of references – specifically using SomeClass[ ][ ] and focusing on array of arrays
A+ Computer Science Labs that cover the same concepts as the new AP CS A Labs :
Strings and randomness – HexChecker, MorseCode, Rock-Paper-Scissors, and Etch-A-Sketch
Lists of references – WordList, Numbers, Toys, Winter Scene, and BlackJack – 21
Matrices / Matrices of references – Forest, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Code and Ciphers
Free Response Questions that cover similar concepts to the new AP CS A Labs :
Strings and randomness – 14.Q1, 11.Q4, 08.Q2, 08.Q4
Lists of references – 13.Q1, 12.Q1, 11.Q3, 10.Q1, 09.Q4, 08.Q1
Matrices / Matrices of references – 14.Q3, 13.Q4, 12.Q4, 11.Q4
My Houston AP SI is in the books. I had a very large and lively crowd. The winner of the furthest travel was Daily who came all of the way from Nigeria.
We spent lots of time on arrays, arrays of references, lists, lists of references, matrices, matrices of references, interfaces, abstract classes, recursion, and the new AP CS A Labs.
Magpie, Elevens, and PictureLab are new and need to be examined before the 2014-2015 school year kicks off. The updated A+ Computer Science Curriculum supports the new AP CS A Lab and it is ready for download.
We also did an extensive study of free response questions and went through many past year’s questions. This is a good practice at workshops and in class.
Denver is up next in just over a week. Hope to see you there.
Well, my predictions for the 2014 AP CS A Free Response were close this year as usual.
There was a matrix of classes this year. It took me 2 years to get this one right.
There were 2 class questions this year and not just one. I was 1/2 right on that.
You had to extend a Rock which is cool. I have been having my students extend Actor every year since GridWorld was introduced which is basically the same thing as a Rock.
There was an ArrayList of classes, but the class was a String. I was kind right on that one.
The ArrayList<String> question was much like a codingbat problem so that was cool.
Circa 2006, there was an interface implementation question this year. I like the question, but would like it better if the constructor was 3 MenuItems rather than being so specific. Anyway.
I have posted slides with my solutions and a java student project that has shells and no solutions. This project will allow students to punch in their code and see if works.
http://www.apluscompsci.com/ap_computer_science_free_response.html
There are review slides for the AP Computer Science A exam for years 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. There are student java projects for 2013 and 2014.
Have a great summer and check out my workshop offerings if you are free this summer. My workshop is full in Houston with a ton on the waiting list, but my Denver workshop has been expanded and there are still a couple spots left. http://www.apluscompsci.com/workshops.htm
I also do local workshops for schools and school districts. If you need specialized local training, email me and we can discuss specifics.
Good luck to all on the AP CS A Exam and on the alternate exam in a few weeks!
I did my last big review this morning at 6 am with my crew and here is what I went over with them in prep for the FR part of the exam.
1. ArrayList of Classes / References – You gots to know how to write code to manipulate an ArrayList<NeverSeenThisClassBefore> as it is on the exam every single year going all of the way back to 2006. This question type involves lots of drilling down to get to the various pieces. You must be comfortable with abstraction to handle this type of question.
2. Make a Class from scratch – Every student should know how to make a class and possibly implement an interface or extend an abstract class. The abstract / interface type of question went away about 5 years ago, but may come back so you better be ready. Be prepared to override some methods and make something new from something old. Critter has been very popular and we have only had one Bug ever.
3. Processing an Array – I reviewed the Horse[] question this morning as I like that question. 2012 was the first year the AP exam had an array of classes / references. Most of the time the array question just involves some algorithmic stuff with numbers like finding smallest, largest, difference between smallest and largest, etc.
4. Matrices – I told my troops to be ready for a matrix of classes as that would be a really cool question. I predicted a matrix of classes FR question last year and I was wrong so I am holding out hope that I will be right this year.
I will post follow-up comments after I see this year’s Free Response questions in a few days. Hopefully, my predictions will be right on this year. I have been pretty close in the past.
If you want to see slides I have used as AP Exam review slides in the past, I have some of those posted that you can download.
If you like my humor and want to spend a week hearing more about how I prep students to rock this exam, check out my workshops over the summer.
If you are looking for a great summer professional development experience, check out the UT First Bytes teacher camp information below.
The First Bytes outreach program at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) announces our 9th annual First Bytes Collaborative Workshop for Computer Science Teachers, July 9-11, 2014 at the UT-Austin campus.
The goals of the workshop include:
1. Improve Computer Science education in Texas,
2. Learn about new technologies in Computer Science,
3. Exchange effective teaching methods and best practices among colleagues,
4. Build relationships between Computer Science high school teachers and UT-Austin faculty.
The First Bytes Teacher’s Workshop is an opportunity to meet with peers from across the state to explore the challenges and opportunities for Computer Science education in Texas high schools and to invent ways to improve collaboration that will impact student learning and achievement. Participants will earn AP CS Continuing Education credit for full participation.
If you are interested, contact Mary Esther Middleton via email at mem@cs.utexas.edu . This workshop is first come first serve so get your name in the hat as soon as possible if you are interested.
If you are looking for AP Computer Science Summer Institutes, check out my workshops page. I will cover lots of cool comp sci topics and spend lots of time on the NEW AP CS A Labs! Email me at stacey.armstrong@apluscompsci.com if you have questions.
Computer Science students looking for summer internships are in good shape per the stats from Glassdoor.com. Check out the blog post
I had a great conversation with my high school comp sci students about this information. They could not believe how much these internships were paying. This was exactly the information that some of my students needed to get motivated to start writing more code.