Computing is a complete syllabus for computing education for ages 5-14 (Years 1-9). Teachers can be reassured that their students have access to the computing skills and understanding they need for their future education.
The book is divided into six units for Year 9 (ages 13-14):
The nature of technology: Processor and how it works.
Digital literacy: How to participate safely in social media.
Outline the structure of a processor, its components, and how they work together.
Describe some technical innovations that enable modern robotics.
The processor (microprocessor) is at the center of every computer system.
CPU has three important parts: the control unit, the arithmetic and logic unit (ALU), and the clock.
The control unit manages the work done by the CPU.
The arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) does all the calculations in the CPU.
The clock sends out regular electrical pulses.
Buses are high-speed connections that carry data around inside the CPU.
CPU can perform only very simple instructions, very quickly.
Memory holds the instructions, data values, and results of the CPU's work. Also called the memory unit/IAS (Immediate Access Store)/RAM (Random Access Memory).
Storage (secondary storage) stores data even when the computer is turned off (e.g., hard disk, flash memory drive, cloud storage).
Fetch-execute cycle:
Fetch: Control unit fetches the instruction from RAM.
Decode: Control unit 'decodes' the instruction.
Execute: Control unit sends a signal to the ALU to tell it what to do.
Save: ALU sends the result back to RAM.
The speed of the clock affects the speed of the computer, but the size of memory, cache size, and word size are also important.
The ALU processes logical problems.
Logical statement: A logical statement can be used to say if something is true or false.
Logic also has two states: true and false.
Logical statements can be combined using the word 'then'.
Everything to the left of THEN is called the proposition.
Everything to the right of THEN is called the conclusion.
The whole statement is called a logical argument.
Truth Table: A way of laying out a logical statement in table form.
Computers can handle logic problems with more than two parts to the logical argument using AND/OR.
The AND gate has two inputs and one output. The output is 1 only if both inputs are 1.
The OR gate has two inputs and one output. The output is 1 if either input or both are 1.
A NOT gate has one input and one output. It reverses the input.
Gates can be joined together to form a circuit.
Robot: A machine designed and programmed to carry out tasks at speed and with great accuracy.
Robots are autonomous, sensing and responding to their environment.
Advantages of robots:
Carry out repetitive work reliably.
Work quickly and 24/7.
Work in dangerous environments or restricted spaces.
Voice recognition and natural language processing (NLP).
Microprocessor development (embedded processors, parallel processing).
Artificial intelligence (Al).
Real-time operating systems (RTOS).
2 Digital literacy: Dilemmas
Social media involves interactive technologies for creating and sharing content (ideas, thoughts, images, videos, writing).
Fake social media profiles may be created to:
Protect yourself.
Express your individuality.
Try out different personalities.
Share content with affinity groups.
Post content private to friends or family.
Post rude or worrying content.
Risks of fake social media profiles: inappropriate content, difficulty keeping track, upset people, personal information theft, influencing views.
Spotting a fake social media profile:
The content does not make sense.
The profile has very little activity.
They follow a surprisingly large number of people.
The profile picture looks fake.
Types of social media:
Social networking sites: Connect with family, friends, and new people.
Social review sites: Post comments about experiences and things bought.
Image and video sharing sites: Create and share images and videos.
Microblogging: Share short messages with many people using hashtags.
Consider how well you know someone online to be safe and responsible.
Sharing and privacy:
Share personal information with people in your inner circle.
Share information about local events with people you do not know that well.
Only share other people's content with people you do not know well at all.
Remember, social media lasts a long time.
When you have a warning feeling:
Slow down - how are you feeling?
Think about the situation - what caused you to have the feeling?
Think what are your choices?
Act - make a good choice, or ask an adult for advice.
Digital footprint: The mark you leave when you are online.
It can show a lot about you, be shared widely, and last a long time.
Online mistakes are persistent, meaning they do not disappear over time.
Manage your digital footprint by:
Thinking before you post.
Searching for yourself sometimes.
Making sure your privacy settings are secure.
Privacy: Being protected from being watched or listened to by other people.
Digital privacy is complicated because apps and websites collect information.
Companies use your information to advertise to you and to make money.
Ways to protect your privacy:
Change your passwords often.
Switch off your current location.
Switch off the automatic login function.
Manage your audience.
Hide your activity status.
Ethics of care:
We depend on each other.
Not everyone feels strong all of the time.
What we say, type, share and do every day on social media should aim to protect and promote better lives for everyone.
Addiction: Some people believe they cannot stop using certain technologies.
Addictive design aims to use the pleasure your brain gets to make you feel good so you will want to use that social media again resulting in dependency and overuse.
Signs you need to take a break from social media:
Sore head and neck.
Feelings of sadness or grumpiness.
Trouble falling asleep.
Family saying you spend all your time online.
Hunger and thirst from extended use and passage of time.
Humane design: When technology design companies help you keep a healthy balance between your social media use and other activities by thinking about the meanings people get from using social media.
3 Computational thinking: Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI): Building computers that can solve problems using human-like judgment.
Artificial intelligence (AI): Building computers that can solve problems using human-like judgment.
Methods used to develop AI:
Heuristics (rule of thumb).
Decision trees.
Expert systems.
Machine learning.
Heuristic: A rule that helps make a quick decision that simplifies difficult problems (e.g., signals with fewer than three characters are bad).
Advantages of heuristics:
Solve a problem quickly.
Less work for the user.
Good-enough result.
Disadvantages of heuristics:
Not always accurate.
Might not be the best solution.
Expert system:
An algorithm that represents the knowledge of an expert.
An expert system is made of logical tests.
Decision tree helps to set out the tests.
Advantages of Expert Systems
Can reach a decision without needing to ask a person.
Will always make the same decision without bias or favour.
The rules are set out in program code so you can check they are fair.
Disadvantages of Expert Systems
It can be hard for an expert to put their skills into words.
Not everything can be reduced to logical tests.
Experts can be wrong, and then the algorithm will be wrong too.
Automation means it can work on its own without a human user. Automating a decision tree makes a program that will make human-like decisions.
Types of machine learning:
Supervised training: the computer is given a lot of data that has already been organized and labeled.
Unsupervised training: the computer is given a lot of data that is not sorted or organized and must find the patterns itself by creating clusters
Reinforcement learning: The computer starts by producing random or undirected signals or actions with feedback that lets it know if it has moved towards the right goal.
Deep learning: Combines the other methods into a highly complex learning process using a neural network.
Machine learning requires a lot of data that must be diverse and varied.
Machine-learning applications include: recognizing faces and making images of faces, diagnosis of illnesses, weather forecasting, *understanding speech, and spotting computer viruses.
4 Programming: The fish pond plan
Mathematical model: A model that uses numbers to stand for all the parts of the system.
Abstraction: Making a problem simpler by leaving out details.
Leave out details that are not needed for the purpose.
Keep details that are needed for the purpose.
Surface area of the pond: Width * Length.
Volume of water: Surface area * Depth.
Each cubic meter of water is enough for two tilapia fish.
Advantage of Model: Quicker, cheaper, and easier to make.
Disadvantage of Model: Simplification; not as accurate as real-life analysis.
Algorithm:
inputs: data used by the algorithm
processes: changes made to the data
structures: such as loops and if structures
outputs: the values produced by the algorithm.
Assumptions: Values that you leave out or set at a fixed level to simplify the model. This means the model will not be completely accurate.
5 Multimedia: Creating a multimedia news site
Multimedia projects combine different kinds of media.
The project can create:
an online product like a website or blog
an offline product like a multimedia newsletter.
When planning media projects, think about your audience first.
Multimedia platforms are the spaces that you can use to make, share or view multimedia content.
Social media sites, website templates, and offline applications like Microsoft PowerPoint are examples of multimedia platforms.
When choosing a platform, think about these issues:
Who is your audience and what is your content?
How well will your content work on the platform?
What is the cost and availability of the platform?
Services like WordPress.com and Blogger let you choose a template for your pages and add posts/pages based on this template.
Content creation considerations: For text content, use a word processor for more powerful editing capabilities. You can collaborate with others by sharing the document through email or use of Track Changes and sharing. For multimedia usage for content, use images, short videos, and compressed media files.
For audio and video, you can use a hosting service. Then you can embed a media player from that service in a page on your site. This means that you benefit from the hosting service's streaming capacity and functions (e.g., YouTube).
A podcast should have a structure:
Intro: Explain who you are and what the show is about and what you are planning to talk about.
Jingle (or 'sting'): A short piece of music to help people recognise and remember your podcast.
Topic segments: Use one or more segments to cover the subjects you have chosen.
Closing remarks: Thank the audience for listening and encourage them to listen to the next episode.
Write a script that you want to say in a segment and keep the words understandable.
Show notes: Podcasts and internet radio shows often have a web page with notes for listeners that include text, images, graphics and links to other websites.
Technical standards needed to agree to:
Screen format (or 'aspect ratio')
Resolution and file type
Shot List: Creates specific goals for each individual.
Shot types and movements:
A wide shot shows all of the subject and some of the surroundings.
A close-up shot is made much closer to the subject that only shows part of the subject where there are interesting thing to note.
A panning shot is a type of camera movement where the camera swivels on its vertical axis, changing the audience's view of the subject.
A tracking shot is also a type of camera movement wherein the camera moves position while recording to follow a moving subject.
User stories come from a need, or a requirement for something and it includes the target and the benefit:
" I need a [objective], so that I can [benefit]"
6 Numbers and data: Managing projects
When people work on a project, they have a specific goal and are doing a set of tasks to reach that goal.
Projects are different to BAU activities because they are: temporary, cross-functional, unique, and uncertain.
The project life cycle has four stages: Plan, Do, Check, and Act (continuous improvement cycle).
The project manager's role is to control the following:
Costs
Timescales
Quality
Scope
Risks
Benefits
Stakeholders have an interest in the project's outcome.
During project discovery, use:
mind maps brainstorm (using an application or using paper), and
personas, an imaginary yet realistic user whose needs should always be used to evaluate design questions.
Mapping business processes to plan out diagrams of business roles.
Requirements Modeling uses a "Use Case Diagram" showing "Actors