Computer Science

In Year 8 students are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming.

Students are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computer Science also ensures that students become digitally literate and are able to use and express themselves and develop their ideas at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in an ever increasing digital world.

A key area in Year 8 is for students to understand and develop computer programs that reflect computational thinking and become familiar with the syntax of the Python language and use logical reasoning to debug their programs.

COURSE CONTENT

● Students will learn how bitmap and vector images are represented and stored by the computer. ● The focus is on getting students to understand the process of developing programs, the importance of writing correct syntax, being able to formulate algorithms for simple programs and debugging their programs. ● Students will be introduced to the Python programming environment IDLE and begin solving various tasks using text commands. Building on their knowledge from Year 7 they will start to plan and develop more complex algorithms, learning to incorporate variables and use their computational thinking skills to make decisions using the ‘IF-THEN’ commands and to improve the efficiency of their programs using both conditional and unconditional iteration. ● Students will be introduced to 3 logic gates - AND, OR and NOT gates and develop electronic circuits and truth tables. They will learn that these gates are part of the building blocks that make up the computer's hardware. ● Students will learn that cybersecurity is the protection of internet-connected systems such as hardware, software and data from cyber-threats. They will learn what the threats are and how individuals and enterprises protect themselves against unauthorized access.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

● Computational thinking ● Problem solving ● Troubleshooting ● Knowledge and understanding of computer systems

ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED

Students will be expected to bring a set of headphones to lessons.

SETTING

Teaching will be delivered in form groups.

ASSESSMENTS

Students will be assessed every half term based on the work covered up to that point. There will also be an end of year assessment, where students will be assessed on the topics covered throughout the year. This will consist of both a practical and written paper.