Application Form (Due Friday, April 26, 2019 4:00 pm)
AP Computer Science Principles Course Description
AP Computer Science Principles includes a semester of the impacts of technology and computer programming on society and a semester of basic computer programming. This course will be more of the basics of computer programming than AP CSA.
The AP Computer Science Principles course is designed to be equivalent to a first semester introductory college computing course. In this course, students will develop computational thinking skills vital for success across all disciplines, such as using computational tools to analyze and study data and working with large data sets to analyze, visualize, and draw conclusions from trends. The course engages students in the creative aspects of the field by allowing them to develop computational artifacts based on their interests. Students will also develop effective communication and collaboration skills by working individually and collaboratively to solve problems, and will discuss and write about the impacts these solutions could have on their community, society, and the world.
The course focuses on seven big ideas (creativity, abstraction, data and information, algorithms, programming, the Internet, and global impact) and uses six computational thinking practices (connecting computing, creating computational artifacts, abstracting, analyzing problems and artifacts, communicating, and collaborating) which are important aspects of the work in which computer scientists engage.
AP Computer Science A Course Description
AP Computer Science A includes a full year programming in the Java programming language. This course will be more rigorous programming than AP CSP.
AP Computer Science A is equivalent to a first-semester, college-level course in computer science. The course introduces students to computer science with fundamental topics that include problem solving, design strategies and methodologies, organization of data (data structures), approaches to processing data (algorithms), analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing. The course emphasizes both object-oriented and imperative problem solving and design using Java language. These techniques represent proven approaches for developing solutions that can scale up from small, simple problems to large, complex problems. The AP Computer Science A course curriculum is compatible with many CS1 courses in colleges and universities.
