Mobile CSP Change Log (2024-25 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2023-24 edition of the curriculum. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and PD facilitators. (Changes to earlier editions of the curriculum are after this table.)
Lesson/Item | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
7/26/2024 | New lesson to practice for the written response questions added as well as Teacher page and these google docs
Also updated the Create 1 submission template and the Create 2 template and their ebook pages slightly to include practice written response questions. | To help prepare for written response questions | ||||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2023-24 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2023-24 edition of the curriculum. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and PD facilitators. (Changes to earlier editions of the curriculum are after this table.)
Lesson/Item | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Create PT | Dec 2023 March 2024 | The Create Task pages in the Mobile CSP student and teacher e-books were updated to reflect the changes to the Create PT for the 2023-24 academic year. Changes to 7.11, 7.12. New lessons: 8.8 and 8.9. | The College Board shared information on 8/28/2023 regarding changes to the Create Performance Task for the 2023-24 school year. These changes were necessary to address the AI and plagiarism challenges. The updated information is now live on the AP CSP Exam page | |||||
Assignments | 8/2/2023 | Runestone Academy assignments for each lesson were added to the base course mobilecsp. Instructors who make a custom Runestone Academy course will be able to copy in these assignments from the Instructor’s page/Admin tab/Copy. | This is a new feature in Runestone Academy and will make it easier for teachers to use assignments to check the progress of their students. | |||||
9.5 & 9.6 | 8/2/2023 | Two new experimental lessons in Python were added to Unit 9 After the CSP Exam. | Additional materials for after the exam | |||||
Pedagogy | continuing | CS4ALL Commitment: A commitment was made to audit and update the Mobile CSP curriculum and professional development using the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining (CRS) Computer Science Education Framework (Kapor Center, 2021) . | This will allow us to incorporate more CRS pedagogy in order to support student participation and success in an overall effort to reduce equity disparities. | |||||
Blown to Bits | continuing | A review of the second edition of Blown to Bits is underway to determine how it aligns with the curriculum and identify changes that need to be made in the curriculum (e.g., to student and teacher materials). | A second edition of the book was released in 2020 and is now available for free as a PDF online. | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2022-23 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2022-23 edition of the curriculum. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and PD facilitators. (Changes to earlier editions of the curriculum are after this table.)
Lesson/Item | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Pedagogy | 10/22 | CS4ALL Commitment: A commitment was made to audit and update the Mobile CSP curriculum and professional development using the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining (CRS) Computer Science Education Framework (Kapor Center, 2021) by May 2023. | This will allow us to incorporate more CRS pedagogy in order to support student participation and success in an overall effort to reduce equity disparities. | |||||
7.5 Data Map App | 6/18/22 | Added a new enhancement exercise #2 that asks students to add a procedure with a parameter to update the map to display different columns of data from the data spreadsheet. | This enhancement of adding a procedure with a parameter meets the requirements of the AP Performance Task and was suggested by a Mobile CSP teacher on the teachers’ forum. | |||||
Blown to Bits | Summer 2022 | A review of the second edition of Blown to Bits is underway to determine how it aligns with the curriculum and identify changes that need to be made in the curriculum (e.g., to student and teacher materials). | A second edition of the book was released in 2020 and is now available for free as a PDF online. | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2021-22 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2021-22 edition of the curriculum. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and PD facilitators. (Changes to earlier editions of the curriculum are after this table.)
Lesson/Item | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Portfolio Reflections | August 28, 2021 | Unit 2 and 3 portfolio reflection questions are being updated with new wording and, in some cases, new questions. Unit 2 changes are also to emphasize function vs purpose. | Portfolio reflection questions are being modified to be clearer and match more closely with the learning objectives. | |||||
ALL | Ongoing |
| Revisions are being done to support EL students. | |||||
URLs | August 14, 2021 | The URL redirects (course.mobilecsp.org and teach.mobilecsp.org) will be updated to point to the Mobile CSP e-books on Runestone Academy. | Read more here. | |||||
Platform | Summer 2021 | Mobile CSP is moving to Runestone | Read more here. Lesson 7.7 AI has been revised (only in the Runestone e-book) to include an algorithmic bias in AI activity. | |||||
Programming Lessons | March 2021 | The MIT App Inventor companion app is now available for Android and iOS! | Read more here. | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2020-21 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2020-21 edition of the course. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and master teachers. (Changes to earlier editions of the course are after this table.)
Lesson | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Generic Changes Made to all Lessons and Lesson Plans | ||||||||
Summer 2020 |
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Summer 2020 |
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Changes to Specific Lessons | ||||||||
Create PT | Summer/Fall 2020 | Updated AP Create Performance Task #1 and 2 to align with new directions and scoring guidelines | To adjust to new AP CSP 2020 exam format | |||||
August 2020 | These lessons were marked as optional. | Not used for the alignment to the 2020 College Board LOs/EKs and not necessary for understanding other content. | ||||||
July 2020 | Conversion to Hex removed and placed in the optional Still Curious section. Overflow error defined. | Hex was removed from the 2020 College Board LOs. | ||||||
June 2020 | Added a new lesson on Parallel Computing | To cover 2020 College Board LOs/EKs | ||||||
June 2020 | Added a new lesson on Cyber Security | To cover 2020 College Board LOs/EKs | ||||||
June 2020 | Updated lessons to meet the College Board’s Explore Curricular Requirement, which includes:
Moved Blown to Bits Chapter 5 (formerly 6.10) into Still Curious of Lesson 6.6 Cryptography Basics to make room for Activity 4 above. | To adjust to new AP CSP 2020 exam format | ||||||
June 2020 | Removed AP Explore Performance Tasks #1 & #2 | To adjust to new AP CSP 2020 exam format | ||||||
Unit 8 | To be completed | Added AP CSP exam preparation lesson for questions with reading passages related to Impacts of Computing Added new AP CSP Create samples | To adjust to new AP CSP 2020 exam format | |||||
Teach Unit 10 | To be completed | Added a lesson on strategies for supporting English Language Learners in CS courses | To reflect the growth of ELL students taking CS Principles | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2019-20 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2019-20 edition of the course. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and master teachers. (Changes to earlier editions of the course are after this table.)
Lesson | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Generic Changes Made to all Lessons and Lesson Plans | ||||||||
Summer 2019 | Only minor changes adding vocabulary and concepts to existing lessons to start 2020-2021 College Board curriculum changes. | |||||||
Changes to Specific Lessons | ||||||||
2.2 I have a Dream App | 5/26/2019 | Added an Input/Output subsection, corresponding vocabulary and self-check questions. | To cover 2020 College Board EKs. | |||||
2.4 I have a Dream Part 2 | 10/01/2019 | Added a Vocabulary section, specifically to ensure “computational artifact” was emphasized as a vocabulary term. | To cover 2020 College Board EKs. | |||||
9/2/2019 | Added a representing audio section to the Still Curious section. | To cover 2020 College Board EKs. | ||||||
7/14/2019 | Revised to include test cases and complex if/else-if blocks (in the self-check questions). | To cover 2020 College Board EKs. | ||||||
3.9 Map Tour with TinyDB | 5/25/2019 | The 2 extensions involving Any Component blocks have been moved to the Differentiation:Enrichment suggestions on the Teach side. A new simpler extension involving TextToSpeech was added. | Teachers reported back that the Any Component activities were too challenging for Unit 3. They are also introduced in Unit 8. | |||||
6/16/2019 | Design Thinking, an iterative development process, is introduced. | To cover 2020 College Board EKs and to provide a framework for an iterative, incremental software development process. | ||||||
7/20/2019 | Added a new video on Loops with Lists and made short handouts for the projects. | To cover 2020 College Board EKs and emphasize learning about loops with lists. | ||||||
7/23/2019 | Revised with new videos for Big Data, Data Science, Impacts of Data, and Data Bias. | To cover 2020 College Board EKs and to keep topic up to date and provide more interesting videos. | ||||||
Unit 8 | 8/1/2019 | Added a new Create Sample Grading Lesson | To provide students with a walkthrough of how Create projects are written and graded. | |||||
Unit 10 - Teach Side | 7/2/2019 | Updated inclusive teaching lessons on the Teach Side including added facilitator slides to stereotype threat and unconscious bias, added microaggressions lesson with CS Teaching Tips activity, and revamped the active recruiting lesson with videos, NCWIT workbook and the MIT practice spaces swipe right activity. | To expand material on equity. | |||||
Create Tasks 1 & 2 | 8/20/2019 | Added Design Thinking iterative development process to both Create Performance Tasks and added non-AP Create Task Descriptions, | To cover 2020 College Board EKs and to provide a framework for an iterative, incremental software development process and to accommodate teaching Mobile CSP as a Non-AP course. | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2018-19 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2018-19 edition of the course. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and master teachers. (Changes to earlier editions of the course are after this table.)
Lesson | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Generic Changes Made to all Lessons and Lesson Plans | ||||||||
Unit 6 & 7 | 6/16/2018 | Reordering Unit 6 & 7 - Unit 6 and 7 have swapped places. Unit 6 Using and Analyzing Data & Information has become Unit 7, and | This change is based on teacher feedback to ensure coverage of the majority of AP-related material before the exam. Teachers reported not having enough time for the Internet lessons and suggested moving them up. | |||||
Unit 5 | 6/16/2018 | Moving Quiz App: Quiz App and Quiz App Projects have moved from the Data Unit to Unit 5 Algorithms to replace Caesar App and Debugging Caesar App. | This is to move up List Processing which is important in the AP exam. | |||||
Unit 6 | 6/16/2018 | Moving Caesar Cipher App: Caesar Cipher App and Debugging Caesar Cipher App have moved into the new Unit 6 Internet Unit. And Broadcast Hub will be moved to Unit 9 after the exam. | These apps are more directly related to the cryptography lessons in the Internet unit. | |||||
6/16/2018 | Renaming B2B Lessons: All Blown to Bits lessons at the end of each unit have been renamed Impacts of CS. These lessons will be updated to include more recent articles and videos. | The name change reflects a move to minimize the use of Blown to Bits because some information in this book is outdated. | ||||||
7/1/2018 | Updated Text Tutorials, Short Handouts, Embedded Tutorials: The text tutorials in all App Inventor lessons have been updated for better readability, accessibility, organization, and consistency. Each text tutorial also has a short version handout that can be printed for students or used by teachers to teach the lesson. Unit 1 & 2 App Inventor lessons now have embedded tutorials in the App Inventor templates. | This will enable teachers to have more choices in teaching App Inventor lessons and better accessibility for their students. | ||||||
7/1/2018 | Solutions: Solution links have been added under the Assessment & Solutions section to all lessons on the Teach side. Solutions include portfolio reflection questions, finished apps, explanations for enhancement projects, quizly solutions. | This will enable teachers to find the solutions quickly and easily. | ||||||
Unit Assessments: unit assessments are being developed for each unit. Teachers will have access to a doc, pdf, or Google form of 30-40 questions for each unit. Unit 2 will be released by Sept. 11th. | Teachers have requested assessments/quizzes for each unit. | |||||||
Portfolio Reflection Questions: portfolio reflection questions are now in Google docs that can be copied from a folder and uploaded to any LMS. Teachers can choose to use their LMS or Google Sites for student portfolios. The google docs are embedded in the Google Sites template and at the bottom of every course page to have 1 place to update. Students should make a copy of each reflection question doc. | Some teachers use their LMS instead of Google Sites for portfolios. We also wanted just 1 central place to update reflection questions. | |||||||
All App Inventor lessons are being tested for iOS compatibility preparing for the iOS companion release in the fall. | App Inventor Companion beta version will be released for iOS in the fall. | |||||||
Changes to Specific Lessons | ||||||||
2.3 Internet and Cloud | 7/9/2018 | This lesson has been revised with a more interactive POGIL activity that discusses the beneficial and harmful effects of social media apps on the web. This replaced two smaller activities about cloud applications and the ten commandments of computer ethics. | Teachers wanted a more interactive POGIL activity that connects with the AP CSP Explore Task. | |||||
2.5 Mobile Devices: HW & SW | 7/23/2018 | This lesson has a new activities section with some suggested activities such as a interactive computer labeling or matching worksheet. | An activity was added to make the lesson more engaging and interactive for students. | |||||
2.8 Abstraction | 7/23/2018 | This lesson has a new suggested activities section with activities such as making abstract drawing or identifying functions associated with abstract buttons on a calculator. | Activities were added to make the lesson more engaging and interactive for students. | |||||
2.9 Binary Numbers | 8/16/2018 | This lesson has some new activities. | Activities were added to make the lesson more engaging and interactive for students. | |||||
3.8 Map Tour and 3.9 Map Tour with Tiny DB | 7/8/2018 | Map Tour has been revised to use the new Map component in App Inventor instead of using Activity Starter to start Google Maps. The Activity Starter method would not work in iOS. | We wanted to use the new Map component instead of Activity Starter and Google Maps. This now works in iOS too. | |||||
4.5 Coin Flip Tutorial (4.8-4.11 renumbered) | 8/7/2018 | The old lesson 4.8 Coin Flip Projects has been put in as an optional section in 4.5 Coin Flip Tutorial and deleted from the unit. This means that 4.8-4.11 have been re-numbered. | We condensed two lessons into one to shorten this unit and reduce the amount of Coin Flip lessons. | |||||
7.5 Data Map App | 8/21/2018 | An app using data visualization and maps has been added to Unit 7. This app uses csv and GeoJSON files to read in data to visualize on a map and uses a Weather API. | This app provides some advanced features of App Inventor such as list of lists, data files, and APIs using the Web component to decode JSON data. | |||||
7.6 Clicker App with CloudDB | 7/2/2018 | The Clicker App has been revised to use CloudDB instead of TinyWebDB and Firebase. The 2 lessons have been reduced to 1. | CloudDB is more stable and reliable than TinyWebDB and Firebase. | |||||
7.7 Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning | 7/27/2018 | A new lesson on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning has been added to Unit 7 Data. | Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are becoming very important in systems we use every day such as voice recognition in calls, machine translation, image and face recognition, etc. The positive and negative social impacts of Artificial Intelligence are also very important. | |||||
8.3 AP CSP Vocabulary review | 7/28/2018 | A new lesson reviewing vocabulary for the AP CSP exam has been added to Unit 8 using quizlet.com. Quizlet vocabulary reviews are also added to the last lesson in each unit. | Teachers have stressed the importance of reviewing CSP vocabulary before the exam. | |||||
Unit 9 | 4/2019 | Split the last lesson into 3 lessons on Careers in IT and CS, Films in CS, and Transitioning to Text-based Languages and CS A. | To encourage students to explore more CS courses and careers. | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2017-18 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons for the 2017-18 edition of the course. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers and master teachers. (Changes to earlier editions of the course are after this table.)
Lesson | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Generic Changes Made to all Lessons and Lesson Plans | ||||||||
6/15/2017 | Solutions - Solution videos have been removed from the lessons themselves and moved to Unit 10 Additional Resources on the student-facing site. | The Mobile CSP team feels that some students may need to refer to solutions as part of their learning experience. Also, these “solutions” are only videos describing how to code the solution, not the source code itself. For all such lessons, students are still required to post a screenshot and discuss their solution in the Reflection. | ||||||
6/15/2017 | Pseudocode - All pseudocode has been revised to conform to the College Board’s style. | |||||||
6/15/2017 | Pseudocode tracing - Additional exercises emphasizing algorithm tracing. | These problems conform to questions students are likely to see on the AP exam. | ||||||
6/15/2017 | Loops - Additional loop algorithms have been added to the course. | 2016-17 teachers requested more loops. | ||||||
6/15/2017 | Socially useful tutorials - Several lessons (Android Mash, Pong, Magic 8 Ball) have been replaced with ones that try to reinforce the course’s “socially useful app” theme. | The replaced lessons have been moved to Unit 9 - Beyond the AP Exam. | ||||||
6/15/2017 | Blown to Bits Lessons - All such lessons have been shorted and refocused and supplemented with links to current event suggestions. | Feedback from teachers suggested such changes. | ||||||
Changes to Specific Lessons | ||||||||
1.3 | 6/15/2017 | Google Account and Portfolio Setup - A 2017 edition of the Portfolio template has been created. | ||||||
2.1 | 6/15/2017 | Algorithm Basics - The sum-a-list algorithm example has been replaced with a robot-navigation algorithm and pseudocode exercises have been added. | Robot tracing should be more engaging and more accessible to students at this point in the course. | |||||
3.2, 3.3, 3.5 | 6/15/2017 | Paint Pot Lessons - Cut Paint Pot from 4 lessons to 3. | Teachers requested more and better pseudocode examples. The material in the 4th Paint Pot lesson (TinyDB) is moved to 3.9, Map Tour. | |||||
3.8-3.9 | 6/15/2017 | Map Tour Tutorial, Parts 1 and 2 - Replaces Magic 8 Ball lesson. Part 1 includes an introduction to Lists (formerly in Magic 8 Ball) and Part 2 introduces the Location Sensor, TinyDB and the use of Geocoding API. | Provides an accessible introduction to Lists and TinyDb (persistent storage) as well an accessible example of an app that uses location awareness. | |||||
4.2-4.3 | 6/15/2017 | Lights Off Tutorial and Projects - Replaces Android Mash tutorial to promote a socially useful theme. | The theme was suggested by students of Ingrid Roche at Boston Latin Academy. | |||||
4.4 | 6/15/2017 | Logo 1 - Added review of AP pseudocode control structures. | ||||||
4.5 | 6/15/2017 | Coin Flip Simulation - Incorporated instruction on coding the for-each-number loop instead of just providing it in 4.6. | Teachers requested more instruction about loops. | |||||
5.2 | 6/15/2017 | Logo 2 - Added AP pseudocode for procedures with parameters. | ||||||
5.5-5.6 | 6/15/2017 | Caesar Cipher and Debugging - Replaces Pong tutorial and debugging. Introduces functions (procedures that return a value) and local variables. | Provides another opportunity to use a loop in an app plus introduces important programming concepts -- local variables and functions. | |||||
6.2-6.3 | 6/15/2017 | Quiz App and Projects - Revision of presidents quiz to focus on CS pioneers. Also added a search loop and AP pseudocode for Lists. | Teachers requested more emphasis on women in CS. | |||||
6.5-6.6 | 6/15/2017 | Clicker App with TinyWebDB and Firebase - Replaces parts 3 and 4 of presidents quiz. The first tutorial uses TinyWebDB and the second uses Firebase. | These lessons cover the same concepts but in a simpler and more engaging fashion with more variety in apps. | |||||
7.2 | 7/15/2017 | Internet Basics: updated activities | Reduce lecture and focus on engaging activities | |||||
7.3 | 7/15/2017 | Broadcast Hub: being revised. No Texting while Driving app moved to Unit 9. | Currently being revised | |||||
7.4 | 7/15/2017 | Internet Architecture and Packet Switching: updated activities to POGIL activities using ping/trace and a new unplugged simulated network packet routing activity. | Reduce lecture and focus on engaging activities | |||||
7.5 | 7/15/2017 | IP Addresses and Domain Names: new lesson with a DNS simulator app. | Reduce lecture and focus on engaging activities | |||||
8.3-8.4 | 6/15/2017 | AP Pseudocode and Exercises - Presents summary of AP pseudocode and some additional pseudocode tracing exercises. | Provides an opportunity for students to practice before the AP exam. | |||||
Mobile CSP Change Log (2016-17 Edition)
This table summarizes the changes made to Mobile CSP lessons. Many of the changes were the result of feedback received from teachers at the focus group sessions that were held in May 2016.
Lesson | Date | Description of Change | Explanation | |||||
Generic Changes Made to all Lessons and Lesson Plans in Summer 2016 | ||||||||
6.02 6.03 | 1/10/2017 | Time Estimate Update - Tutorial updated to 45 mins and Projects updated to 90 mins. | The time estimates for these lessons were backwards. A tutorial in the Mobile CSP course generally takes one class period while creative programming projects take up to two class periods. | |||||
Exam 1 | 1/10/2017 | Instructor Materials - The instructor page was updated with more suggestions on how teachers can review for the midterm/exam 1 with students. | Teachers from the Research Project had questions and ideas for how to prepare their students for the exam. | |||||
6.11 | 1/05/2017 | Drills 6 - The set of drills for unit 6 were updated to include FireBase. | In summer 2016, Mobile CSP replaced TinyWebDB with Firebase for storing data and teaching about databases in the course. | |||||
All | 1/05/2017 | Portfolio Answer Key Website - The new portfolio site is now live and accessible by teachers. | Solutions were provided previously, but each unit had a separate Google doc. The portfolio answer key website makes it easier for us to maintain the solutions documents and for teachers to find what they are looking for. | |||||
All | 8/1/2016 | A Hoverable framework has been added to all lesson plans to provide details for CSP Principles big ideas (BIs) enduring understandings (EUs), learning objectives (LOs), essential knowledge (EKs), and computational thinking practices (Ps). | Teachers can now hover over links in the lesson plan to drill down into the details of the CS Principles learning objectives. | |||||
All | 8/1/2016 | Time Estimates. All lessons have been standardized and rated as either 45, 90 or 135 minute time slots and time estimates have been added to both the teacher and student sites. | This should make it easier to plan schedules. | |||||
All | 8/1/2016 | Icons are included in all lessons and lesson plans for standard elements such as self-check quizzes, professional development. | Icons help identify standard parts of the lessons. | |||||
All | 8/1/2016 | Accordions. Expandable accordions are added to hide details for parts of the lesson plans, including assessment opportunities, differentiation, background knowledge, | These will make it easier to drill down for additional details. | |||||
All | 8/1/2016 | Vocabulary lists of technical terms have been added to the Self-Check sections all student lessons where they are appropriate. Students can hover over the term to see the definition. | Should make it easier for students to look up or review technical terms. | |||||
Changes Made to Specific Lessons and Lesson Plans in Summer 2016 | ||||||||
1.02 | 8/1/2016 | Mazes, Algorithms and Programming. Added a lesson plan. The lesson defines algorithm and introduces the concepts of sequence, selection, and repetition (or iteration). | Important for students to know definition of algorithm as early as possible. | |||||
1.07 | Successful Learning in Mobile CSP. A lesson plan was added. | |||||||
2.03 | 8/1/2016 | The Internet and the Cloud. Introduces some basic concepts about the Internet and the concept of cloud computing. Students read and discuss the Wikipedia article on 10 Commandments of Computer Ethics. Includes a POGIL activity to discuss browsers, online applications that students use and the difference between the Internet and WWW. | POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) is an effective collaborative learning technique. We are introducing a less-formal version of POGIL than the more formal approach used by some other projects. | |||||
2.06 | 8/1/2016 | Algorithm Basics. Moved from Unit 5.2. This lesson now covers basic algorithm concepts, including sequence, selection (if/else), repetition (loops). A POGIL activity asks students to write a simple arithmetic algorithm in pseudocode. | It’s important for students to learn basic concepts about algorithms early in the course. | |||||
2.10 | 8/1/2016 | Hardware Abstractions: Logic Gates. Incorporates a POGIL activity that uses the Logicly app to study logic gates. | Emphasizes collaborative learning and reduces dependence on lecture only. | |||||
3.02 | 8/1/2016 | Paint Pot Tutorial. The revised tutorial covers what was previously covered in two separate tutorials. | The two tutorials can easily be covered in a single class period. | |||||
3.04 | 8/1/2016 | Paint Pot Projects. The revised lesson covers what was previously covered in two separate lessons. | Goes hand-in-hand with the corresponding tutorial. | |||||
3.05 | 8/1/2016 | Paint Pot Refactoring: Procedural Abstraction. This is a new lesson. It introduces the concepts of refactoring (rewriting code), procedural abstraction, and commenting. A procedure is used to encapsulate an algorithm that is used 3 times in the app, thereby reducing complexity. Also illustrates how to add comments to App Inventor blocks. | How to write procedures and when to do so are important topics and need to be introduced earlier than previously. Ditto for adding comments to code. | |||||
3.06 | 8/1/2016 | Error Detection. Incorporates a POGIL activity that asks students to work in teams to figure out how the trick works. Also incorporates a new interactive widget written by a Mobile CSP student. | Emphasis on collaborative learning. | |||||
3.08 | 8/1/2016 | Magic 8 Ball. Revised the projects to exclude Clock component and focus instead on using a ListPicker to implement a Settings menu to control the app’s sound (Speak, Sound, Silent). This allows the exercises to include and if/else algorithm. | The Clock.Timer algorithm was too complicated. More important to give students practice using if/else algorithm. | |||||
3.09 | 8/1/2016 | Persisting Photos Tutorial. This is a new lesson. This tutorial plus the included projects shows how to save photos to TinyDb, a simple on-device database. An if/else algorithm is needed to properly initialize the app when initially reading from the Db. A second project uses a simple list to store multiple photos in the Db. | In feedback from teachers it was stated that many students want to use TinyDb in their Create Tasks. | |||||
3.11 | 8/1/2016 | BB: The Digital Documents. Incorporates a hands-on activity in which students use an image editor to hide their initials in a Bitmap (steganography). | Provides another opportunity to work with binary numbers and ASCII codes. | |||||
4.04 | 8/1/2016 | Logo, I. Moved from Unit 5. It now incorporates simple counting loops, which were previously covered in Logo 2. Revised the template to remove draw() procedure -- it was causing issues. Remade the videos to reflect new template. | Feedback from teachers suggested earlier emphasis on algorithms and on loops. | |||||
4.06 | 8/1/2016 | Coin Flip Experiment. Incorporated a POGIL activity to conduct the experiment. | Emphasis on collaborative learning. | |||||
4.09 | 8/1/2016 | Read World Models. Incorporates a POGIL activity that focuses on exploring a predator/prey model. | In the previous lesson, the real-world models were not very accessible. The predator/prey model lets students explore their own hypotheses. | |||||
4.10 | 8/1/2016 | Abstraction: Inside the CPU. This is a new lesson. It uses a web app to simulate a 4-bit computer, with 16 bytes of RAM, a CPU with ACCumulator and other registers. Illustrates progress through higher levels of abstraction as different generations of the simulation focus on the fetch-execute cycle, machine language programming, assembly language programming. | Provides hands-on experience with binary sequences, the different parts of a basic computer, and the idea that software adds levels of abstraction to the hardware. | |||||
5.02 | 8/1/2016 | Logo II. Revised the template to remove the draw() procedure. It was causing issues. Remade the tutorial video to reflect the new template. | Previous template was causing procedure definitions if students used copy/paste. | |||||
5.03 | 8/1/2016 | Search Algorithms. Incorporate a POGIL activity in which students have figure out binary search algorithm and write it in pseudocode. | Emphasis on collaborative learning. | |||||
5.07 | 8/1/2016 | Analyzing Algorithms. Removed details in the analysis of merge sort. | Shortens lesson without sacrificing necessary content on analysis. | |||||
5.08 | 8/1/2016 | Limits of Algorithms. Removed some lecture detail and incorporated a POGIL activity that focus on password protection (using intractable problem to protect a password) and Traveling Salesman Problem (using the nearest neighbor heuristic.) | The lesson is now more hands-on (less lecture) and emphasizes collaborative learning. | |||||
6.05 | 8/1/2016 | Abstracting Data to the Web. This new lesson replaces the lesson that used TinyWebDb in the AndroidMash app. The new lessons uses App Inventor’s new FirebaseDB component, which is much easier to work with, to store Presidents Quiz data to the Cloud. | The Firebase component is much more robust than TinyWebDb and does not require that an app’s data be shared with all App Inventor users. | |||||
6.08 | 8/1/2016 | Data Visualization Project This lesson is converted from what was a performance task. | College Board has dropped the Data performance task. | |||||
6.09 | 8/1/2016 | Abstracting Data to the Web Projects (Optional). This is an optional lesson that shows how to design an domain-independent app that can present any multiple choice quiz. It uses Firebase. | Lots of students seem to want to create quiz apps. This tutorial would provide an extensible architecture for such apps. | |||||
7.02 | 8/1/2016 | Internet: Basic Concepts and Terminology. Revised to remove content that is covered now in Unit 2. | Goes with changes to Unit 2. | |||||
7.07 | 8/1/2016 | Cryptography: Securing the Internet. Revised lectures to reduce unnecessary details about Diffie-Hellman and RSA. | Details did not seem necessary given the college board’s exclusion statements. | |||||
7.08 | 8/1/2016 | BB: Cryptography and the Government. Reduced this to a 90 minute lesson by reducing the BB reading to 10 or so pages and focusing on the issue of Apple vs. FBI. | BB is challenging reading. However, instead of providing more days for reading, we are trying to require less reading and focus the reading more on the Global Impact. | |||||
Changes Made to Lessons and Lesson Plans in Summer 2015 | ||||||||
All | 7/2015 | Wrap up lesson added to each unit on the student side. The Teach side now also has a wrap up lesson for each unit. Access to App Inventor drills and Mobile CSP quizzes made available in these lessons. | ||||||
7/2015 | Becoming an AP CS Principles course instructor lesson added on to Unit 9 on the Teach Side. | |||||||
6/2015 | Performance tasks (Create #1, Create #2, Explore #1, Explore #2) were updated on the student side to fit the instructions of the latest College Board tasks. We've replaced our own rubrics with the rubrics that were released by the College board. | |||||||
6/2015 | AP Exam prep unit added on the student side. This unit features details about the AP CSP exam and also sample questions that were released by the College Board | |||||||
All | 6/2015 | Vocabulary added to the beginning of each unit on the student side | ||||||
6/2015 | Blown to Bits lesson plans with more defined reading strategies and added pedagogical materials on using those strategies | |||||||
6/2015 | Being Successful in Online Courses lesson added to the Teach side. | |||||||
Changes Made to Lessons and Lesson Plans in Summer 2014 | ||||||||
9/2014 | Additional Assessments - We've added in where we think a midterm exam, a practice explore innovation, and a data project could be in the course. Right now, there are not instructor materials but we'll work on getting them added. | |||||||
9/2014 | Adjusting the questions under the lessons on the Teach side so that we can gather feedback after you've taught the lesson. | |||||||