Exploring Programming | Academics | Middle School | The American School in Japan

Exploring Programming Course Overview

Teacher: Derrel Fincher Spring Semester, 2002

Course Goals:

Exploring Programming is a one-semester course for students who feel comfortable with the basics of technology, such as taught in the MS Tech Skills course, and want to go further in understanding how to program a computer. The primary focus of the course is problem solving and projects. Students who find they are more advanced have the option of proposing their projects earlier.

Major topics

Logo: Students will use Logo programming to explore looping and input driven programs. They will create a simple game using Logo.

Visual Basic for Applications and Visual Basic: Students will use these programs to explore event driven programs as well as to understand the basics of structured programming and object oriented programming.

Tri-class reflections

Students will be expected to write a short reflection of what they have learned and how they are doing at the end of every third class.

Collaborative Website

Students are expected to share their subroutines and programs to the collaborative website for the course. The website is password-protected.

Major Projects

Students will have a couple of major projects that they propose. Both projects will require that they work with others in the course to develop a program they propose. The scope and type of the projects depend on the abilities of the students.

Resources

The class is held in the Technology Resource Center, and students will be expected to use those resources, as well as this web site,  program manuals, help files, Internet sites, peer helpers, and others.

Assessment

Evaluation will be based on projects, quizzes, the ability to work independently, out-of-class work, and class participation. Projects will be evaluated on the processes the student uses to create them, the thought put into the project, and the final product. When a project is a group effort, students will also be assessed on how well they work with the other members of the group.

Grades

This course is graded on an A-F scale.

Procedures and Policies

Class time occasionally may not be sufficient for completing the work in the class and it will be assigned for completion by the next class. Students will be expected to come to the TRC on their own time to finish, but the time required should not ordinarily exceed 30 minutes between two class sessions. (Students may take the work home if they happen to have appropriate resources.) Students will be expected to make up any missed work unless they have an extended absence, in which case I will work with the student to appropriately modify the assignments. Students are free to contact me at school or at home.

Specific Expectations of Accountability

Students are expected to follow the the acceptable use policy they signed when entering the Middle School and behave ethically at all times. Specific issues include not knowingly infringing on others' intellectual property or using their knowledge of computers or programming to disrupt the work of others. Students will treat others in the class with respect.