A Level Computer Science

Course summary

It is a practical subject where students learn about the real world impact of computer systems on individuals, organisations and society. It is also creative subject, combining invention and excitement. Computer science helps students develop problem-solving skills, design and program systems and understand the power and limitations of human and machine intelligence, as well as the capacity to deal with new technologies yet to be invented. There is a focus on programming, building on GCSE Computer Science, and emphasizing the importance of computational thinking as a discipline. The course also gives students a clear progression into higher education, as it was designed after consultation with members of national bodies such as the British Computer Society, Computing At School, and top universities. Content Overview  The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices  Software and software development  Exchanging data  Data types, data structures and algorithms  Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues  Elements of computational thinking  Problem solving and programming  Algorithms to solve problems and standard algorithms The learner will choose a computing problem to work through according to the guidance in the specification.  Analysis of the problem  Design of the solution  Developing the solution  Evaluation