Friday, July 4
2:33 pm    Summer vacation

PREREQUISITE: MINIMUM OF C IN ALGEBRA I OR TRANSFORMATIONAL GEOMETRY/PARAMETER GRAPHING

Games and every other piece of software that you use are based on the science of computer programming.  When you play a video game, how does it work?  How does the computer actually “know” that the asteroid hit your spaceship?  Programming is both intriguing and challenging: you have to write a very clear set of instructions to get the computer to do what you want it to do.  The computer may not cooperate immediately, and so you must go through a long process of problem-solving to get your program to work.

In this introductory course, students work at their own pace using workstations in the school’s computer classroom.  During the first part of the course, students complete lab activities and write a detailed glossary of important programming vocabulary.  Topics of the labs include: variables, repetition loops, decision structures, subroutines, and keyboard input.  Using the programming language of QuickBASIC, the activities incorporate a strong emphasis on graphics, so that students can learn to draw complicated designs on the screen.  In the second part of the course, students design their own programming project in order to apply the concepts they have learned.  To see student work from this course, go to:

http://www.arps.org/users/hs/kochn/ComputerProgrammingI/StudentWork/

See all courses in Computer Education