Big Idea 1 Overview: Creative Development

Collaboration is really important when creating new computing ideas because it allows us to get different perspectives and improve our designs. In this big idea, students work together to design and make programs using a step-by-step process. They talk to people from different backgrounds and groups to understand what they need. After making the program, they test it to make sure it meets those needs.

Collaboration is different from just working in a group because everyone has to take part and share their ideas. At the beginning of the school year, it can be helpful for teachers to set up ways for us to work well together and give us time to practice. This big idea often goes along with Big Idea 3: Algorithms and Programming.

When programmers create solutions to problems, they think about two things: the program itself and how users will interact with it, known as the user interface. A good user interface makes it easy for users to understand what information they need to provide for the program to work correctly.

When implementing the program design, programmers often use documentation to explain what different parts of the code do and how they work together. Students can start writing their documentation in their diagrams. It's better to focus on documenting small sections of code rather than trying to describe large sections all at once.

For the Create performance task, students will get to choose and make their own program. They have the freedom to pick any topic they like, but they must include specific things like lists and procedures in their code.

To help students understand what their programs should look like, it can be useful to show them examples of other programs that meet the requirements.

To prepare for the AP Exam, students should practice finding and fixing mistakes in their code. One way to do this is by giving them prewritten code that they need to correct. This gives them a chance to improve their error-spotting skills.

Good luck computer scientists! 👩‍🔬 👨‍🔬 🥼