A.P. Computer Science Workshop
Beginning & Intermediate Level
Region IV ESC, Houston, Texas
June 07 - June 11, 2009

Workshop On-Line Course Description and Registration Information
Region 4 E-Catalog workshop information and on-line registration Use Course ID 333698
Contact person:   Judy O'Neal
Email: juoneal@esc4.net
Phone: 713-744-6859
Cost: $450.00
Times: Mon-Thu: 08:30am - 04:00pm and Fri: 08:30am - 11:30am

Course Description:

Statistics show that computer science enrollment in college and high school is declining. Join Leon Schram in a workshop designed to reverse that trend with an exciting newly tested curriculum. The workshop will present a detailed curriculum for Pre-AP Computer Science and AP Computer Science. Topics, lab assignments, and tests will be shown in a comparison to clarify that Pre-AP and AP identical topics need to be taught differently. A great emphasis will be placed on using level-appropriate graphics assignments, GridWorld Case Study assignments and Lego Robotic Assignments at every level in both the Pre-AP and AP courses.
Learn how to introduce programming concepts with Lego Mindstorm Robotics. Participants will learn how to construct the robots and how to program the robots to perform a fascination variety of experiments. You will see why students think they are "playing" with the robots and hardly realize how many different computer science concepts they are actually learning. The workshop will start with the Lego Mindstorm segments in the same manner as the computer science course. This will help to illustrate how many programming concepts are covered and learned before students program in a more formal style.
Beginning teachers will learn how to introduce Java programming concepts along with teaching techniques for many topics. Intermediate and experienced teachers will learn new teaching techniques that incorporate visual programming activities with graphics and robotics. Robotics is no longer a club for nerds; learn to make it part of your computer science curriculum. The workshop will also include techniques that greatly improve student preparation for the AP Computer Science Examination.
The workshop will conclude with the introduction of a new computer science course to replace the AP Computer Science AB curriculum. The new course is titled "Advanced Graphics Programming." This course teaches advanced computer science programming concepts in a series of units. Each unit is presented in the context of a video game. As students finish the unit, they have not only learned to create a video game, but also learned many programming concepts required to create the game.