{"id":421,"date":"2021-03-31T17:24:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T16:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/?p=421"},"modified":"2021-05-14T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T15:43:09","slug":"designing-building-and-testing-computing-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/2021\/03\/31\/designing-building-and-testing-computing-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"3 DESIGNING, BUILDING AND TESTING COMPUTING SOLUTIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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E<\/span>very computer we use has been built to make a process quicker, easier, cheaper or safer.\u00a0<\/span>This organiser is all about recognising computer systems as solutions to design problems. Learners should experience a range of techniques and approaches to understanding the problems,\u00a0<\/span>planning<\/span> solutions and then building a working computer solution. This can be done with code, web mark-up languages (such as HTML) or datab<\/span>ases. Ideally, this organiser should be the application\u00a0– an opportunity to assess \u2013 learners\u2019\u00a0<\/span>knowledge<\/span>\u00a0and skills from their computational thinking<\/a>, coding and system<\/a><\/span>s learning.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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At Early level, learners should be encouraged to create a simple sequence of instructions (algorithm) for a programmable device, such as a Bee-bot<\/a>, or online plat<\/span>form, such as code.org<\/a>. They should be able to spot and correct errors in a sequence \u2013 this is a great opportunity to develop resilience and\u00a0<\/span>problem solving<\/span>\u00a0strategies, including th<\/span>e computational thinking concepts and skills from x-13a.<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Learners at First level should be able to\u00a0<\/span>break a problem down into smaller parts and identify key steps, before creating a solution in a visual<\/span>\u00a0coding language, including use of selection (a decision is being made) and fixed repetition. They should then be able to evaluate the accuracy\u00a0<\/span>and efficacy of theirs and others\u2019 solutions.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the progress to Second level, learners should be much more confident with\u00a0<\/span>visual coding languages and should be able to use the concepts of variables and conditional repetition (loops) as learned in\u00a0<\/a><\/span>x-14a. They should be building their knowledge of code an<\/span>d developing ability to identify where blocks of code might be similar in different solutions, before being able to reuse old code in a new solution. This might be seen as a\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Eureka!\u2019 moment where they ‘see’ the solution to the problem, like they might do when the start to ‘get’ other concepts like fractions.<\/p>\n

Beyond Second level there is an increasing complexity of knowledge and skills as learners are required to\u00a0<\/span>create design solutions in visual languages with multiple variables\u00a0<\/span>and also<\/span>\u00a0to manipulate computer data, such as a\u00a0<\/span>database<\/span>, with textual<\/span>\u00a0language (this may be searching or sorting but not creating a database).<\/span>\u00a0 They should also be introduced to web languages, s<\/span>uch as\u00a0<\/span>HTML, CSS and\u00a0<\/span>JavaScript. By the end of the BGE, learners should be\u00a0familiar with a wide array of design solutions and processes, including\u00a0<\/span>interactive\u00a0<\/span>w<\/span>ebpages<\/span>\u00a0(usually JavaScript)<\/span>\u00a0and relational databases and code in a textual language (such as Python).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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