Search the California Content Standards

Standard:
Create programs by incorporating smaller portions of existing programs, to develop something new or add more advanced features.

Descriptive Statement:
Programs can be broken down into smaller parts, which can be incorporated into new or existing programs. Students incorporate predefined functions into their original designs. At this level, students do not need to understand all of the underlying implementation details of the abstractions that they use. For example, students could use code from a ping pong animation to make a ball bounce in a new basketball game. They could also incorporate code from a single-player basketball game to create a two-player game with slightly different rules. Alternatively, students could remix an animated story and add their own conclusion and/or additional dialogue. (CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy W.3.3.B, W.3.3.D, W.4.3.B, W.4.3.E, W.5.3.B, W.5.3.E) Additionally, when creating a game that occurs on the moon or planets, students could incorporate and modify code that simulates gravity on Earth. They could modify the strength of the gravitational force based on the mass of the planet or moon. (CA NGSS: 5-PS2-1)

Standard:
Describe how computing devices connect to other components to form a system.

Descriptive Statement:
Computing devices often depend on other devices or components. Students describe physical and wireless connections to other components, including both input devices (e.g., keyboards, sensors, remote controls, microphones) and output devices (e.g., 3D printers, monitors, speakers). For example, students could describe the relationship among the heart, lungs, muscles, blood, and oxygen during physical activity and then compare this to how a mouse, keyboard, printer, and desktop computer connect and interact to allow for input, processing, and output. (P.E.3.4.7) Alternatively, when describing how light reflected from objects enters the eye and is then transferred to the brain to construct a visual image, students could compare this to a computing system that uses programming to construct a visual image when data is transferred and constructed/reconstructed through a keyboard, camera, or other components. (CA NGSS: 4-PS4-2)

Standard:
Demonstrate how computer hardware and software work together as a system to accomplish tasks.

Descriptive Statement:
Hardware and software are both needed to accomplish tasks with a computing device. Students create a model to illustrate ways in which hardware and software work as a system. Students could draw a model on paper or in a drawing program, program an animation to demonstrate it, or demonstrate it by acting this out in some way. At this level, a model should only include the basic elements of a computer system, such as input, output, processor, sensors, and storage. For example, students could create a diagram or flow chart to indicate how a keyboard, desktop computer, monitor, and word processing software interact with each other. The keyboard (hardware) detects a key press, which the operating system and word processing application (software) displays as a new character that has been inserted into the document and is visible through the monitor (hardware). Students could also create a model by acting out the interactions of these different hardware and software components. Alternatively, when describing that animals and people receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways, students could compare this to the interaction of how the information traveling through a computer from mouse to processor are similar to signals sent through the nervous system telling our brain about the world around us to prompt responses. (CA NGSS: 4-LS1-2)

Standard:
Explain that the amount of space required to store data differs based on the type of data and/or level of detail.

Descriptive Statement:
All saved data requires space to store it, whether locally or not (e.g., on the cloud). Music, images, video, and text require different amounts of storage. Video will often require more storage and different format than music or images alone because video combines both. The level of detail represented by that data also affects storage requirements. For instance, two pictures of the same object can require different amounts of storage based upon their resolution, and a high-resolution photo could require more storage than a low-resolution video. Students select appropriate storage for their data. For example, students could create an image using a standard drawing app. They could save the image in different formats (e.g., .png, .jpg, .pdf) and compare file sizes. They should also notice that different file sizes can result in differences in quality or resolution (e.g., some pictures could be more pixelated while some could be sharper). Alternatively, in an unplugged activity, students could represent images by coloring in squares within a large grid. They could model how a larger grid requires more storage but also represents a clearer image (i.e., higher resolution).

Standard:
Describe reasons creators might limit the use of their work.

Descriptive Statement:
Ethical complications arise from the opportunities provided by computing. With the ease of sending and receiving copies of media on the Internet, in formats such as video, photos, and music, students consider the opportunities for unauthorized use, such as online piracy and disregard of copyrights. The license of a downloaded image or audio file may restrict modification, require attribution, or prohibit use entirely. For example, students could take part in a collaborative discussion regarding reasons why musicians who sell their songs in digital format choose to license their work so that they can earn money for their creative efforts. If others share the songs without paying for them, the musicians do not benefit financially and may struggle to produce music in the future. (CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy SL.3.1, SL.4.1, SL.5.1) Alternatively, students could review the rights and reproduction guidelines for digital artifacts on a publicly accessible media source. They could then state an opinion with reasons they believe these guidelines are in place. (CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy W.3.1, W.4.1, W.5.1)

Standard:
Use flowcharts and/or pseudocode to design and illustrate algorithms that solve complex problems.

Descriptive Statement:
Complex problems are problems that would be difficult for students to solve without breaking them down into multiple steps. Flowcharts and pseudocode are used to design and illustrate the breakdown of steps in an algorithm. Students design and illustrate algorithms using pseudocode and/or flowcharts that organize and sequence the breakdown of steps for solving complex problems. For example, students might use a flowchart to illustrate an algorithm that produces a recommendation for purchasing sneakers based on inputs such as size, colors, brand, comfort, and cost. Alternatively, students could write pseudocode to express an algorithm for suggesting their outfit for the day, based on inputs such as the weather, color preferences, and day of the week.

Standard:
Design and iteratively develop programs that combine control structures and use compound conditions.

Descriptive Statement:
Control structures can be combined in many ways. Nested loops are loops placed within loops, and nested conditionals allow the result of one conditional to lead to another. Compound conditions combine two or more conditions in a logical relationship (e.g., using AND, OR, and NOT). Students appropriately use control structures to perform repetitive and selection tasks. For example, when programming an interactive story, students could use a compound conditional within a loop to unlock a door only if a character has a key AND is touching the door. (CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy W.6.3, W.7.3, W.8.3) Alternatively, students could use compound conditionals when writing a program to test whether two points lie along the line defined by a particular linear function. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 8.EE.7) Additionally, students could use nested loops to program a character to do the "chicken dance" by opening and closing the beak, flapping the wings, shaking the hips, and clapping four times each; this dance "chorus" is then repeated several times in its entirety.

Standard:
Decompose problems and subproblems into parts to facilitate the design, implementation, and review of programs.

Descriptive Statement:
Decomposition facilitates program development by allowing students to focus on one piece at a time (e.g., getting input from the user, processing the data, and displaying the result to the user). Decomposition also enables different students to work on different parts at the same time. Students break down (decompose) problems into subproblems, which can be further broken down to smaller parts. Students could create an arcade game, with a title screen, a game screen, and a win/lose screen with an option to play the game again. To do this, students need to identify subproblems that accompany each screen (e.g., selecting an avatar goes in the title screen, events for controlling character action and scoring goes in the game screen, and displaying final and high score and asking whether to play again goes in the win/lose screen). Alternatively, students could decompose the problem of calculating and displaying class grades. Subproblems might include: accept input for students grades on various assignments, check for invalid grade entries, calculate per assignment averages, calculate per student averages, and display histograms of student scores for each assignment. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 6.RP.3c, 6.SP.4, 6.SP.5)

Standard:
Create procedures with parameters to organize code and make it easier to reuse.

Descriptive Statement:
Procedures support modularity in developing programs. Parameters can provide greater flexibility, reusability, and efficient use of resources. Students create procedures and/or functions that are used multiple times within a program to repeat groups of instructions. They generalize the procedures and/or functions by defining parameters that generate different outputs for a wide range of inputs. For example, students could create a procedure to draw a circle which involves many instructions, but all of them can be invoked with one instruction, such as “drawCircle.” By adding a radius parameter, students can easily draw circles of different sizes. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 7.G.4) Alternatively, calculating the area of a regular polygon requires multiple steps. Students could write a function that accepts the number and length of the sides as parameters and then calculates the area of the polygon. This function can then be re-used inside any program to calculate the area of a regular polygon. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 6.G.1)

Standard:
Design modifications to computing devices in order to improve the ways users interact with the devices.

Descriptive Statement:
Computing devices can extend the abilities of humans, but design considerations are critical to make these devices useful. Students suggest modifications to the design of computing devices and describe how these modifications would improve usabilty. For example, students could create a design for the screen layout of a smartphone that is more usable by people with vision impairments or hand tremors. They might also design how to use the device as a scanner to convert text to speech. Alternatively, students could design modifications for a student ID card reader to increase usability by planning for scanner height, need of scanner device to be connected physically to the computer, robustness of scanner housing, and choice of use of RFID or line of sight scanners. (CA NGSS: MS-ETS1-1)