Curriculum Map - Computer ScienceYear 7
Students begin the year learning about ‘Impact of Technology/Eâ€Safety’. This unit enables the learners to familiarise themselves with the school network, the use of school technology (Teams) and to organise folders for all their subjects on OneDrive. We introduce email etiquette to make sure that students have the tools to correctly communicate with their teachers, as well as prepare them for life beyond school. In terms of online safety, this unit focuses on respecting others online, spotting strangers, and the effects of cyberbullying. This is then followed by Computational Thinking, where students begin to develop their ability to problem-solve independently, using abstraction, decomposition and algorithms. These are the pillars of Computer Science and provide a good foundation for other Key Stage 3 units. This will prepare them for the Bebras Computing Challenge that the school takes part in annually.
Building on their understanding of e-safety and the wider impact of technology, students apply this knowledge by exploring different MS Office software applications, including MS Forms, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint. Students will follow a Project from start to finish to create a variety of products using different application software, allowing them to develop transferrable digital literacy skills which they will revisit when building more complex computer science skills. Students will also learn to search the internet safely, determine the validity of the information they find and discover efficient searching techniques.
Students will begin the last term with Computer Basics. Students will learn about input and output devices, the CPU, storage, memory, binary, the cloud and touch upon computer networks.
This will then be built on further by programming, where students will begin to learn key programming concepts using Scratch (a visual programming language), including sequencing, selection and iteration.
Why?
Good quality IT skills enable the student to engage positively within the modern workplace, while Computer Science skills enable students to take an active part in the design, development, style and creation of new technologies to be used for good in the world in which they live. The first unit ensures students are safe users of computers in terms of online and e-safety and in their general use of IT along with the skill to manage files that they use for all subjects.
As well as our school systems (Microsoft suite), students also use Scratch, a tool in which there are multiple ways for students to complete the same task, such as making characters move. Students learn the skills to be able to select the appropriate method that works best for the task they choose to tackle. They also build thinking skills, learn to be resilient when they make mistakes and their program does not work and independently resolve the problem.
Year 8
In Year 8, Wren Academy students have the opportunity to build further computing skills through other cross-curricular learning with other subjects, as well as our enrichment programme, such as the Code club, Code for Life/Scratch, as well as the Game Club Enrichment using Code Combat/Code Club, Lego robots etc.
Students build on their understanding of practical computer science skills through word processing their documents in a variety of subjects, applying their graphical skills in Design and Technology, as well as dedicated Focus Days on Online Safety.
Why?
The core of the subject is the understanding of how technology works, how it can be developed and how it can be utilised. We draw and extend their understanding of the ICT and digital literacy strands of Computing from a range of other subjects outside of IT, namely Design and Technology, English, and through dedicated Focus Days. The programming strand is offered in the form of two Enrichment clubs, Gaming and Coding clubs. These embed clear and high-quality literacy and numeracy skills, software development, problem-solving as well as evaluation skills.
Year 9
Students begin with ‘Back to the Future’, a module looking at how the heroes of the past have helped shape the future of technology. This is then followed by Computational Thinking, where students build upon their problem-solving skills, using abstraction, decomposition and algorithms. With the main focus on algorithms, the students learn how to sequence the steps to solve problems using flowcharts. They will also take part in the Bebras Computing Challenge, which we enter as a school annually.
In the Spring Term, students explore computer systems and data representation, building on prior knowledge. These are foundational, important units that explores the inside of the computer and how it works. Along with this, the students will begin to explore the basics of programming techniques using Python. During the last term, students focus on computer networks, looking at how computers are connected and the hardware that is needed. Finally, students explore more advanced programming techniques using Python.
Why?
To ensure students’ knowledge is continually building in complexity, Computational Thinking is reintroduced in Year 9, keeping a main focus on algorithms. This will develop their problem-solving skills and understanding of key algorithms. The central topic of Year 9 is Data Representation, understanding binary so that students know how numbers are represented, how text is represented and how images and sound are represented. We also make sure to develop students’ understanding of hardware and software, so that they grasp the inside of computer devices, which dovetails nicely with an introduction to networks.
Students also expand on their programming techniques to ensure that they have a good grounding and can continually come back to the programming throughout the year. They understand how computers communicate with one another and with other systems. They will then further develop their programming skills looking at arithmetic operations, randomness, selection, and iteration. Emphasis is placed on tackling common misconceptions and being able to identify and resolve any programming errors themselves.