A LEVEL COMPUTER SCIENCE
Programme of Study: Year 12
| Dates | No of weeks | Topics (3 periods p week) | No of lessons | Topics (3 periods p week) | No of lessons | Notes | Assessment tasks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 1 | Introduction to the chosen programming language and its development environment. Application of concepts, operations and simple data constructs to complete simple programs and develop the confidence to experiment. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | ||
| 3-Feb | Introduction to the chosen programming language and its development environment. Application of concepts, operations and simple data constructs to complete simple programs and develop the confidence to experiment. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| 4 | Progression to a wider range of program tasks, including 1- and 2-dimensional arrays. | 3 | Practical experience of programming | ||||
| October | 5 | Number systems. | 3 | Binary and other representations and discuss their uses, advantages and limitations. | 3 | ||
| 6 | Coding systems: introduction. | 3 | Binary and other representations and discuss their uses, advantages and limitations. | 3 | |||
| 7 | Describe and explain the use of parity bits, majority voting and check digits. | 3 | Images and sound: Intro | 3 | |||
| 8 | Representation of images | 3 | Digital photography | 3 | |||
| November | 9 | Representation of sound. | 3 | Practical: eg MIDI. | 3 | ||
| 10 | Compression theory. Compression in practice. | 3 | Encryption theory. | 3 | |||
| 11 | Experience in working with ciphers and computerised encryption. | 3 | Abstraction and automation. | 3 | |||
| 12 | Abstraction and automation: understand the concepts and gain experience in the techniques and processes. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| December | 13 | Finite state machines: Manipulate state transition diagrams and state transition tables for FSMs | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | ||
| 14 | Communication and networking part 1. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | ||||
| January | 15 | Communication and networking part 2. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 9 | ||
| 16 | Gain experience in solving problems by iterating stages of development, including: Abstracting, Structuring, Coding, Testing a guided, small-scale project. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | ||||
| 17 | Gain experience in solving problems by iterating stages of development, including: Abstracting, Structuring, Coding, Testing a guided, small-scale project. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | ||||
| February | 18 | Project finalisation and evaluation. | 3 | Communication and networking part 3. | 3 | ||
| 19 | Consequences of uses: individual (moral), social (ethical), legal and cultural issues and opportunities. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | ||||
| March | 20 | Fundamentals of computer systems. This includes hardware, software, programming languages and program translators. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | ||
| 21 | Fundamentals of computer systems. | 3 | Logic gates. | 3 | |||
| 22 | Logic gates and Boolean algebra. | Logic gates. | 3 | ||||
| 23 | Internal hardware components. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| April | 24 | Stored program concept: the structure and role of the processor and its components. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | ||
| 25 | Stored program concept, including the Fetch-Execute cycle. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| 26 | External hardware devices: main characteristics, purposes and suitability of input, output and secondary storage devices. | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| 27 | Revision and preparation for internal examination and/or Experience of software development cycle and/or | 3 | Research, definition and planning for the assessed project and/or | 3 | |||
| May | 28 | Revision and preparation for internal examination and/or Experience of software development cycle and/or | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | ||
| 29 | Revision and preparation for internal examination and/or Experience of software development cycle and/or | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| 30 | Revision and preparation for internal examination and/or Experience of software development cycle and/or | 3 | Practical experience of programming. | 3 | |||
| June | 31 | Project | 6 | Project | 6 | ||
| 32 | Project | 6 | Project | 6 | |||
| 33 | Project | 6 | Project | 6 | |||
| 34 | Project | 6 | Project | 6 | |||
| 35 | Project | 6 | Project | 6 |
Year 13
| Dates | No of weeks | Topics (3 periods p week) | No of lessons | Topics (3 periods p week) | No of lessons | Notes | Assessment tasks |
| Sept | 1 | Fundamentals of databases: Model, describe, explain and normalise relational databases; Use SQL with multiple tables. Discuss concurrent access in a client-server database. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | ||
| 2 | Fundamentals of databases: Model, describe, explain and normalise relational databases; Use SQL with multiple tables. Discuss concurrent access in a client-server database. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 3 | Fundamentals of databases: Model, describe, explain and normalise relational databases; Use SQL with multiple tables. Discuss concurrent access in a client-server database. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics | 3 | |||
| 4 | Abstract data types. Required types are: Queue, stack, list, graph, tree, hash table, dictionary, vector. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| Oct | 5 | Abstract data types. Required types are: Queue, stack, list, graph, tree, hash table, dictionary, vector. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | ||
| 6 | Abstract data types. Required types are: Queue, stack, list, graph, tree, hash table, dictionary, vector. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 7 | Paper 1 skeleton program. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 8 | Numbers with a fractional part, including revision from Year 1. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics | 3 | |||
| Nov | 9 | Floating point errors etc. Checksums. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | ||
| 10 | Stack frames and recursive programming techniques. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 11 | Interrupts. Analogue/digital conversion. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 12 | Fundamentals of algorithms: Trace and describe a range of algorithms and analyse their time complexity. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| Dec | 13 | Fundamentals of algorithms: Trace and describe a range of algorithms and analyse their time complexity. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | ||
| 14 | Fundamentals of algorithms: Trace and describe a range of algorithms and analyse their time complexity. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| Jan | 15 | Fundamentals of algorithms: Trace and describe a range of algorithms and analyse their time complexity. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | ||
| 16 | Regular expressions and language. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 17 | Backus-Naur form. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| Feb | 18 | Vector graphics. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | ||
| 19 | Programming paradigms: Explain and justify the use of both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 20 | Programming paradigms: Explain and justify the use of both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| 21 | Programming paradigms: Explain and justify the use of both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms. | 3 | Software development revision. The computing practical project. The project allows students to develop their practical skills in the context of solving a realistic problem or carrying out an investigation. Work on development is likely to continue in parallel with study of other topics. | 3 | |||
| March | 22 | Classification of algorithms. Finite state machines, including revision from Year 1. | 3 | Turing Machines. | 3 | ||
| 23 | Turing Machines. | 3 | The Halting Problem. | 3 | |||
| 24 | The Internet and TCP/IP. | 3 | Paper 1 skeleton program continued. | 3 | |||
| April | 25 | Big Data. | 3 | Paper 1 skeleton program continued. | 3 | ||
| 26 | Functional programming. | 3 | Paper 1 skeleton program continued. | 3 | |||
| May | 27 | Exam preparation. | 3 | Exam preparation. | 3 | ||
| 28 | Exam preparation. | 3 | Exam preparation. | 3 | |||
| 29 | Exam preparation. | 3 | Exam preparation. | 3 |