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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

New AP computers class to be offered next year

New+AP+computers+class+to+be+offered+next+year

Next year, Piedmont will potentially offer a completely new and updated, year-long computers class: AP Computer Science Principles, in which students will learn creative problem solving, programming and the basis of internet structures.

The College Board, which noticed a lack of advanced computer science offered in high schools, began to develop the class five or six years ago, with the idea of incorporating different aspects of each of the existent AP classes.

“It was a direct request from the parent community,” computers teacher Rajendra Shrivastava said. “With technology changing, there is a need for students to learn about programming devices.” 

Although PHS currently offers AP Computer Science, the College Board felt that students should be able to build more of the foundational skills in other areas of computer science.   File_000

“Not only did they notice [a lack of computer science], but they also wanted a class that was not about a particular programming language,” said head of the computers department and computers teacher Nathan Mattix. “With AP Computer Principles, programming is only a component, and students are able to explore other areas such as how the internet works and using databases to further expand their learning.”

With these new components also comes the freedom for the teacher to choose the programming language.

“Some [languages] are simpler and others are more complex — it all depends on the teaching style and what the students want,” Mattix said.

Mattix, who has been teaching at PHS for over 16 years, said that the department chose a curriculum that involves the use of  a program called “Google App Inventor,” which was originally developed by Google Labs. Additionally, the University of San Francisco offers assistance to schools that use this language.

“[Assistant principal Irma Muñoz and I] went on a field trip to sit in on their class,” Mattix said. “We observed the style, and it would be a great fit for the majority of the students’ previous knowledge.” 

The College Board struggled to find a way to implement an AP exam that would suffice for all of the language options.

“They are going to have to test in a way that is ‘language neutral,’” Mattix said.

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