Well, another AP exam has come and gone.
The 2012 exam is now in the rear view mirror.

This year’s exam is proof that you will never get the Bugs out of your code no matter how hard you try.

Having tortured my students with over 600 practice M/C questions ( Moodle makes this sooooo easy ) and volumes of Free Response questions, I felt the need to blog a bit about the comments I heard after the exam ( more than 48 hours after the exam ).

It never fails that after spending hours working to help students prepare that there will be handful of comments that upon hearing make you laugh and cry at the same time.  I have embellished these just a bit to protect the innocent and to slightly increase the humor factor.

These comments are in decreasing order of humor or pain – however you quantify them.
Please do your best to infer the extreme level of sarcasm in my [anecdotal bracketed] mental responses.

DISCLAIMER – All comments were heard 48 hours after the exam.

#5 – “We had to write programs all year long with Bug[], Dog[], Cat[], Alien[], Aardvark[], Chicken[], and Alligator[] arrays, but never any Horse[] arrays.”
[ I clearly blew it on this one.  How could I have not know to make a Horse[] array lab?  Arrrgggh!  ]

#4 – “What do you guys mean that you should always put private on instance variables?”
[This is only to prevent other goofballs from destroying your data from afar – the danger is apparently much closer. ]

#3 – “You should never in your life override an act() method!”
[Yes, all classes have act methods that are sacred and free from that nasty process called overriding and the multitude of assignments we did where we overrode act were just figments of your imagination. ]

#2  -  “I made sure to return on all parts of the Free Response – even from the void methods!”
[ My motto is if all else fails and are you are unsure what to do - just return.  Works almost every time.  Duh!]

#1 -  “We had to go through matrices over and over again and even had to count up all of the 5s in one matrix lab, but we never had to count up all of the 255s.”
[Once again, I clearly blew it  – I was way off by a whopping 250!]

I hope you enjoy this humorous post and also hope you have a great summer!
Enjoy the AP Reading if you are going and look me up if you need a Great AP Summer Institute!

Cheers!

Once these computers come online and you can actually buy one, I am getting a Raspberry PI for 25 bucks.  It appears that there are 100,000 or so back orders in the queue ( that is British for line ) so we may all be waiting for a good while to get one.  The 35.00 model has a few more features like a network connection, but either one would be fun to have in a Comp Sci class.  My students all thought this was awesome and they all want to buy one and think that everyone else needs to buy one as well.  Happy Hunting!

CS For All

I have posted about how everybody needs Comp Sci skeelz numerous times, but here is another link to another article discussing the same idea.

Learning how to solve a problem computationally is a really cool process and that experience will help students in many different ways.   How could it hurt?   Many of my students will get jobs or start companies that rely on computing power to conduct their everyday business.  Knowing a bit more about how these systems work and how they were built is a good thing.   Having the knowledge to build your own system or tell someone else how to build what you want is very useful.

Teaching students basic content early seems to me to be the best way to get kids hooked and interested so that they will continue on and gain the skeelz they will use and need for life.  Elementary school is the place to start and there are many tools you could use to get the ball rolling.  Scratch is one that works great!

UIL Contests in Texas are underway.  Schools will compete in numerous Academic Events over the next 2 weeks to qualify for the UIL Regional meet.  Then, they can qualify for the UIL State meet which is held at the University of Texas at Austin campus.  State Champions will be crowned on May 21st and 22nd.

Students and teachers all over the state prepare for and look forward to this time of year.  The contests are great and they provide a chance for students to test their skills against students from all over the state.

Computer Science is a component of the UIL Academic Program.  You can find out more about the Computer Science contest by clicking here – UIL Computer Science.  Check out my site to download sample UIL Computer Science tests and programming problems.

I would encourage those in Texas to get involved!  If you are in another state that has no contests, you should start a Computer Science contest of your own!  It is great way to build your program and get more kids involved.

Mario has been analyzed and deemed to be an NP-hard problem by a research group at MIT – read the entire article.   This is quite humorous and something that my students will find very interesting.  We have discussed the P vs NP Problem in class several times and many find it intriguing.   This article and the research behind it will give me a reason to discuss P vs NP again.

The University of Texas at Austin Computer Science Department is again holding a Computer Science camp for girls this summer.
The First Bytes Summer Camp for Girls will accept applications through the 23rd of March.
Many of my students have attended past instances of this camp and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Almost all of my students that attended the camp in the past have gone on to either minor or major in Computer Science.
Check it out!

Computer Science skills can be learned at any age.  I have been going to my sons’ elementary school for the last 3 years at least twice a year, teaching their classes how to create games, animations, and stories.  I have taught them how to use variables, loops, ifs, and lists using Scratch.  All of the boys and girls in each class love it when I come out and they use the skills to create projects throughout the year.  These students all think CS is cool and will have no problem taking Computer Science classes in the future as they are comfortable with the concepts and idea of writing programs.  I hope that I have successfully planted the seeds for a whole crop of future Computer Scientists.

This article discusses the same idea of starting students in Computer Science early and makes some of the same points.

I like to talk to my students in Computer Science about career options and what and where they can do things later on life.
I had all of my classes take a look at the NSA recruiting page to see where NSA had needs.
http://www.nsa.gov/careers/
They were very impressed that Computer Science and Computer Engineering were in high demand.
Several of my students have Cyber Security career ambitions so this is very good information for them to have.

2012 Generation Google Scholarship

Deadline to Apply is February 20, 2012

The Generation Google Scholarship is a new program for aspiring computer scientists to excel in technology and become active role models and leaders in the field.  Selected students will receive $10,000 USD (for those studying in the US) or $5,000 CAD (for those studying in Canada) a year for up to four years (or until graduation, whichever comes first) so long as they maintain criteria for renewal.  Recipients will also be invited to attend Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) in the summer of 2012.

Who Should Apply?

Applicants must be high school seniors and meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Intends to be enrolled in or accepted as a full-time student at a university in the US or Canada for the 2012-2013 school year
• Intends to be enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in a baccalaureate Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or related program
• Exemplifies leadership and demonstrates a commitment to and passion for computer science and technology through involvement in their community
• Strong record of academic achievement
• A student from an underrepresented group in computer science (African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Female, or a Person with a Disability)
• Demonstrates financial need
  

For complete details, visit the Generation Google Scholarship site.

England to replace ICT curriculum with Comp Sci

Wanting to better prepare students for the future and prevent them being bored to death, England is replacing its ICT curriculum, which focused on using programs like Excel and PowerPoint, with a curriculum more focused on Computer Science and programming.  This really makes sense.