New computing curriculum

Why is everyone getting stuck on the array question in particular:

What is an array:

1) A Collection of Data that is not in order --- False, an array can be sorted.
2) A list or series of objects which are all of the same size and type --- An array is this.
3) A list or series of objects some of which are the same size and type --- This is an ArrayList or a compressed array. Not an array itself.
 
Judgeneo said:
Why is everyone getting stuck on the array question in particular:

What is an array:

1) A Collection of Data that is not in order --- False, an array can be sorted.
2) A list or series of objects which are all of the same size and type --- An array is this.
3) A list or series of objects some of which are the same size and type --- This is an ArrayList or a compressed array. Not an array itself.
Click to expand...

I was confused by that one because I wasn't sure if an array of objects could make some elements of the array a different size or not.

Also because ever since I learned about vectors I've never touched arrays :p
 
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25% of adults fail this test, well there is a surprise, old people before computers were mainstream do not know basic programming terminology :O
 
I can't believe I got them all right:eek:

Time to celebrate:cool:

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what.... doesn't everyone have a nasal flush after such a monumental achievement:confused:

Probably best not to celebrate whilst in a shocked state:o:D
 
ttaskmaster said:
In all my years of "using technology to survive and thrive", I have never needed to actually know what Boolean meant... and I doubt most school kids need it to operate an iPhone, either!!

I still passed KS4, incidentally.
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We did Boolean algebra as part of my GNVQ advanced in IT (ks 3 I think?)

Couldn't tell you what it is now mind and never applied it in the 15 years since.
 
Kreeeee said:
Coding will all be outsourced eventually anyway. They really should be teaching more useful long term skills.
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What makes you say that? Why is high end engineering in other sectors (civil/mech/military etc.) still a good business in the UK if this is true? My current employer is owned wholly by a big scary Turkish company, we are less than 10% of the total engineering effort but our skills and expertise are considerably higher to the point where we're worth the 10x cost.
This rings true in a lot of software from what I hear, there are plenty of programmers out there but not many engineers ;).
 
Judgeneo said:
Why is everyone getting stuck on the array question in particular:

What is an array:

1) A Collection of Data that is not in order --- False, an array can be sorted.
Click to expand...

But it isn't necessarily sorted, you can have an array which is not in a particular order, so this would be a valid answer.

The program one was a bit ambiguous too.
 
I don't see why the curriculum has to be too advanced. It should give kids the knowledge they need to do what they need to do, nothing more. It seems stupid to waste time teaching them 'advanced computing' when the vast majority will never use it again.

For those that do go on to use computers to a professional level will most likely have picked up how to use the computer to their needs through working.
 
I'm not particularly worried about having masses of kids become programmers and taking my job in 10-15 years time. Most kids with the aptitude and inclination probably already do some sort of programming themselves anyway.

I do think it's important to teach children how to think in a logical fashion and break problems into smaller chunks though, things that you will learn by programming and computational thinking.
I don't know enough about the new curriculum to know if it will do this, but it's probably a step in the right direction.
 
Haggisman said:
But it isn't necessarily sorted, you can have an array which is not in a particular order, so this would be a valid answer.
Click to expand...

You are mixing up sorted and ordered. An array is always an ordered data structure (ie. the items are in sequence) but that doesn't mean that they are sorted according to any particular property or category (eg. alphabetical).

Some of the questions are a little ambiguous, but mainly where common usage gets mixed up with definitions - for example, most people would say that Word or Chrome are computer programs, but that's not actually the definition of one.
 
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Got them all right. As I should - I've been writing schemes of work for this curriculum all Summer (I'm a Computing teacher!)

For those worried Computing is only about programming and coding - it's not. It's about thinking logically, computational thinking, abstraction etc as well as the programming and coding, how computers actually work and so on. A lot of the skills are more transferable, even if you can't program to save your life. I'm firmly in the camp that this is better to teach children than how to use presentation software (not that you can't deliver this as part of the Computing curriculum).

For those interested - BBC Bitesize have launched a Computing section. There's also a hefty MOOC launched by OCR and Cambridge uni to show you some of what the curriculum contains.
 
Managed to get to stage 4. But then I do have a degree in this stuff and I work as the IT Manager in a school. ;)

Going to send this to a few colleagues and see if I can trip them up! :D
 
I actually looked into ICT/Computer Science education as part of my dissertation as part of my degree in Computer Science. Here are my thoughts:

  • A problem with this is that the teachers need to be confident in their abilities in understanding and teaching the subject. If only a handful of teachers can understand this, then students will struggle to learn and may lose interest in the subject.

  • It's not for everyone. Not everyone I know understands programming or has an interest in learning it.

  • The 'Year of Code' project has failed. After the terrible interview on Channel 4 and an advisor to the project quitting after one week, it's fair to say that it's over. In fact, Lottie Dexter has also quit - after being on the job for four months.

I do think it's good but I feel more needed to be done to get more CS graduates into teaching. Myself or my friends who were on my course didn't know that the government were offering a £25K scholarship to get into teaching.

It's a bit scary how 25% of adults couldn't get past Key Stage 1.
 
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