Computer Science Literacy

My colleague, Geoff Schmit, teaches the AP Computer Science Course in our school, and shared a very insightful post about his thoughts on how his class is about more than just programming. (You can view the post here) In it he shared how he engages his students to "read, think, write and debate issues at the intersection of technology, society and ethics." He shared his assignments with the hopes that other CS teachers would find them useful.

For this reason, I thought it might be helpful to share how I help get students prepared for this type of writing and thinking. It is always a pleasure to see that the learning activities I do in my introductory programming classes (programming 1 & 2) prepare the students for learning activities that they will encounter in latter sections of computer science.

We share in the idea that computer science courses are about more than just programming. So in programming 1 I engage students in near daily discussion boards that get the students to think about the concepts they are learning in class and share those thoughts in writing. These writing assignments are less about composing long detailed pieces of writing, but rather, to get the students to practice focusing on facts and providing evidence to support them. They are short and very regular, so the students get a lot of practice with this.

In programming 2, students move from short regular writings, to a little bit longer writings, in which they have to reflect on a reading or video that we will do together in class. This both helps them get practice with technical writings, and introduces them to some of the technological and ethical situations that exist. Many times the concepts are new to the students, and they really have to think about their view on what the reading or video presented.

In the same hopes of my colleague, I will share the programming 2 writing assignments, with the hopes that these may help other CS teachers.

Current Event Articles (2)

During the course of the semester you must submit 2 current event articles. The articles can come from any reputable news source or magazine. The content of the article may be anything computing related, but at least 1 of your articles must be internet related.
                Article Directions:

1. Find an appropriate article.
2. In your paper, create a heading that identifies the following information:
   1. The article source
   2. The article title
   3. The article author
   4. The date the article was written/published
   5. A link to find the digital copy of the article (note if you do not have a link to a digital copy, you will have to post/paste a copy of the actual article. I can help you with this if necessary.
3. Section 1 (this section can be as long as you need it to be): Summary of Article
   1. Write an objective summary of the article
   2. You must be sure to include all of these items about the article
      i.      Who, what, when, where, why and how
   3. You should not answer these in list format, rather these are things to keep in mind when writing your summary section
4. Section 2 (this section can be as long as you need it to be): Reflection on Article
   1. This is the section that you should provide your own thought and opinion in to. Be sure to explain why you selected the article, what your thoughts on the article were, and if necessary, whether you agree or disagree with the author. Part of your reflection should also be about how the content in the article affects society as a whole, or if necessary, how you think it will affect society. Be thorough and detailed with support about this section. Students who reflect with something like “This technology sounds cool.” will not score well.
   
   
     
   Technology Research Assignment
   
   
   You must pick one aspect of technology and research it and its impact on society thoroughly. You may write this research paper in one of two different ways.

You may identify an aspect of technology and simply present its impact on society and give both the pro's and con's for or against the technology.

1. EXAMPLE - Cell Phones and Cancer: Cell phones are a common technology in our lives, but they may be linked to cancer. (then i would present both the good and bad of cell phone use and present research that proved or disproved a connection between cancer)

Identify an aspect of technology by asking a question and using your research to argue for or against the question to answer it.

1. EXAMPLE - Cell Phones and Cancer: Are cell phones causing cancer? (Then I would write my paper by choosing a side based on my research to argue that the research proved they were or weren't causing cancer.)

Your research must be written in MLA style format with citations at the end. You must include a minimum of two different sources for your research. I expect this paper to be a minimum of 5 paragraphs but it does not have to be a lot longer. (about a 1 1/2 to 2 pages) You must get your topic approved before you begin research.

Hackers Wanted Video Reflection

Based on the information you viewed in the Documentary "Hackers Wanted", write a 2 paragraph reflection that argues for or against "Gray Hat" hackers.

Algorithms Video Reflection

Kevin Slavin (In his TED Talk on Algorithms) argues that we're living in a world designed for -- and increasingly controlled by -- algorithms. In this video he shows how these complex computer programs determine espionage tactics, stock prices, movie scripts, and architecture. Slavin also warns that we are writing code we can't understand with implications we can't control.
For your video reflection, please respond to only one of the following two prompts:

Option A:
Give some specific examples of how you believe computer algorithms affect your daily life. Be sure to explain why and how you think these algorithms affect your life, and whether you believe that they are positively or negatively affecting your life.

Option B:
Assume that Slavin is correct, that the world is becoming increasingly controlled by algorithms. Do you believe this is a positive or negative thing? If you believe it is positive, be sure to provide specific examples of why it is good, and how it can benefit society. If you believe this is a negative thing, give specific examples that explain why and give some ideas of how you believe it could be changed.