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CTE/Computer Science & Information Technology Curriculum Computer Science Principles
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Core Standards of the Course

Strand 1
Creative Development
Collaboration is crucial when developing computing innovations, because having multiple perspectives offers additional opportunities to find solutions.

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Standard 1
Collaboration

  1. Explain how collaboration affects the development of a solution.
  2. Collaborate in the development of solutions.

Standard 2
Program Function and Purpose

  1. Investigate the situation, context, or task.
    • Investigate the purpose of a program.
    • Understand how to break down program specifications into smaller tasks using top-down design and pseudocode.
  2. Generalize data sources through variables.
    • Understand the uses of different data types (examples: integer, float/double, characters/strings, boolean, etc.)
  3. Explain how a code segment or program functions.

Standard 3
Identifying and Correcting Errors

  1. Identify and correct errors in algorithms and programs, including error discovery through testing.
  2. Identify different types of errors such as logic, run-time, and syntax errors.

Strand 2
Computing and Data
Processing data is the main benefit of computer use.

Standard 1
Hardware/Software

  1. Explain the differences between hardware and software and how they relate to input, storage, processing, and output.
  2. Understand the different file sizes (bit, byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, and petabyte).

Standard 2
Binary Numbers

  1. Calculate the binary (base 2) equivalent of a positive integer (base 10) and vice versa.
  2. Compare and order binary numbers.

Standard 3
Data Compression

  1. Compare and order binary numbers.
    • Lossy - reduce the number of bit stored while still being able to reconstruction the original data.
    • Lossless - reduce the number of bits stored but is only able to reconstruction an approximation of the original data - maintains quality.

Performance Skill
Students will differentiate between hardware and software, convert decimal to binary and binary to decimal, and identify when to use lossy vs. lossless compression.


Strand 3
Algorithms and Programming
Algorithms and programming languages are essential for solving problems and completing tasks.

Standard 1
Variables and Assignments

  1. Use variables of different data types (examples: integer, float/double, characters/strings, boolean, etc.)
  2. Convert data types to other data types.
  3. Determine the value of a variable as a result of an assignment.

Standard 2
Mathematical Expressions

  1. Implement arithmetic operators (=, +, -, *, /, and MOD) and order of operations (PEMDAS).

Standard 3
Input / Output

  1. Receive and store user input.
  2. Print to console

Standard 4
Strings

  1. Evaluate expressions that manipulate strings.
    • String concatenation joins together two or more strings end-to-end to make a new string.

Standard 5
Boolean Expressions

  1. Write and evaluate expressions using relational operators (==, ≠, >, <, ≥, and ≤).
  2. Write and evaluate expressions using logical operators (AND, OR, NOT).

Standard 6
Conditionals

  1. Write conditional statements, such as IF statements and ELSE IF statements.
  2. Determine the result of conditional statements.

Standard 7
Iteration/Looping

  1. Write iteration statements, such as for loops and while loops.
  2. Determine the result of iteration statements.

Standard 8
Calling and Developing Procedures/Functions/Methods

  1. Write statements to call Procedures/Functions/Methods
  2. Determine the result of a Procedures/Functions/Methods

Performance Skill
Students will use algorithms and programming to solve problems and evaluate the results.


Strand 4
The Internet
The Internet is built on systems that use protocols to transfer data.

Standard 1
The Internet

  1. Explain how computing devices work together in a network (Network, Path, Routing, Packets, Bandwidth).
  2. Explain how the Internet works (Fault Tolerance, Protocols, HTTP, HTTPS).
  3. Understand the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Standard 2
Web Development
Students will understand that the HTML programming language is used to create all websites on the internet and acts as the structure for a website.

  1. Students will code the foundation for a basic webpage including the element tags <!DOCTYPE html>, <html>, <head>, <title>, and <body>.
  2. Students will create pages with tags and attributes at the inline level. (<!DOCTYPE html>, <html>, <head>, <title>, <body>, <h1>, <h2>, <h6>, <p>, <br>, etc.)

Performance Skill
Students will explain how computer systems and networks, primarily the Internet, work. Students will design a simple webpage.


Strand 5
Impact of Computing
The impact of computing extends to societal, economical, and cultural issues.

Standard 1
Beneficial and Harmful Effects

  1. Explore how an effect of a computing innovation can be both beneficial and harmful.
  2. Explore advances in computing that have generated and increased creativity in other fields, such as medicine, engineering, communications, and the arts.

Standard 2
Digital Divide and Computing Bias

  1. Explore issues that contribute to the digital divide (demographics, geographics, socioeconomic, equity, access, influence).
  2. Explore how bias exists in computing innovations.

Standard 3
Legal and Ethical Concerns

  1. Explain how the use of computing can raise legal and ethical concerns.
  2. Understand how ease of access and distribution of digitized information raises intellectual property concerns regarding ownership, value, and use.
  3. Understand the differences between Copyright, Creative Commons, Public Domain, & Trademark

Standard 4
Safe Computing

  1. Describe the risks to privacy from collecting and storing personal data on a computer system.
  2. Explain how computing resources can be protected (password strength) and can be misused.
  3. Explain how unauthorized access to computing resources is gained.
  4. Understand essential cybersecurity concepts.
    • Malware (adware, trojan horse, virus, ransomware, etc.)
    • Social Engineering (phishing, etc.)

Performance Skills
Students will discuss the benefits and issues of computing. Students will develop and use safe internet practices.


Workplace Skills
Students will develop professional and interpersonal skills needed for success in the industry.


UEN logo http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE).  Send questions or comments to USBE Specialist - Kristina  Yamada and see the CTE/Computer Science & Information Technology website. For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director - THALEA  LONGHURST.

These materials have been produced by and for the teachers of the State of Utah. Copies of these materials may be freely reproduced for teacher and classroom use. When distributing these materials, credit should be given to Utah State Board of Education. These materials may not be published, in whole or part, or in any other format, without the written permission of the Utah State Board of Education, 250 East 500 South, PO Box 144200, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4200.