Computer Studies / Computing

Course summary

The course gives students an in-depth understanding of how computer technology works. Although students will have used the technology before, this course gives them an insight into what goes on ‘behind the scenes’, including computer programming, which many students find absorbing. Nationally there is a growing demand for professionals who are qualified in this area. Students who take this subject at A level will open up a number of fascinating and very well paid careers. Component 01 – Computer systems – this component will introduce you to the internal workings of the Central Processing Unit (CPU), the exchanging of data, and also looks at software development, data types and legal and ethical issues. • The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices • Software and software development • Exchanging data (how data is exchanged between different systems) • Data types, data structures and algorithms • Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues Component 02 – Content of Algorithms and programming – you will understand what is meant by computational thinking, and understand the benefits of applying computational thinking to solving a wide variety of problems. • Elements of computational thinking • Problem solving and programming • Algorithms • Component 03 – Programming project – you will analyse, design, develop, test, evaluate and document a program written in a suitable programming language for real users. ALGORITHMS AND PROBLEM SOLVING How to design, build and test computer programs.