Computer Science Updates - November 2017

The AP Computer Science class is doing well, exceeding expectations. They have mastered an introductory course in machine learning and artificial intelligence (something only universities such as MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon offer).

The students are now able to solve practically any problem in any field by designing a neural network (the same technology that Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc. are using).


Computer Science Updates - May 2017

Congratulations to the Computer Science students that worked hard this semester to prepare for the AP exams this week.

10 students (10th graders) took the AP Computer Science Principles exam on Friday.  This is the first time this AP course/exam has been offered (anywhere in the world).  In addition to the usual AP multiple choice questions, students were required to upload a Digital Portfolio that included computational artifacts, code, written responses, and a video describing their code prior to the exam.  We appreciate the students that participated in this inaugural test - it will help to shape the future of the Computer Science program as we move forward with the AP Computer Science Principles course.

Also working hard in Com Science, 20 students took the AP computer Science exam (JAVA programming).  While this course is largely students from the CS strand, we have some impressive coders from both the Engineering and Bioscience strands as well.  Computer Science skills will be valuable in every career!


CISCO Girls Power Tech Day

Thursday, May 5, was CISCO Girls Power Tech Day.  The Phoenix CISCO office hosted about 50 girls from around the city, including 3-4 girls from each of the PVUSD high schools.  Engineering student Melissa LaCross and Computer Science students Harshini Narayanan and Kaylee Herrmann represented CREST/PVHS.  CISCO employees shared their career paths, job descriptions, work/life balance strategies, and the perks of being gin the IT/technology workforce.  Other activities included a video conference with another group of girls at the CISCO office in Vancouver and they were all joined by a CISCO network eigineerin Spain, who shared her career path and advice with the students.  The final activity engaged the girls with a hands-on brainstorming session about the Internet of Things (IoT).


Computer Science Updates - April 2017

Freshmen

The 9th grade Computer Science class recently wrapped up their unit on 'Big Data and Privacy' and we concluded with a fun challenge. In the style of an "Escape the Room" game, we went down to the Computer Lab in the StarTech building where the students worked together to use their new knowledge of encryption / decryption (using Caesar and Vigenere ciphers), public and private keys, and a little history lesson in Alan Turing's work to break the Enigma code. There were clues around the room, many different types of locks to open, codes to break online and, finally, a simulated Enigma machine to reveal the final code that unlocked the box to "Win the War". It was a very engaging group activity and provided many opportunities for collaboration, problem solving and "thinking outside the box"!


Sophomores

AP Computer Science Principles (10th grade students) exam study sessions are underway in preparation for the AP exam on May 5th. We have been meeting 2 times per week during lunch to review. The Explore and Create Performance Tasks are due by April 30th and are to be uploaded to the Digital Portfolio on the collegeboard.org website. 

The AP Computer Science A (JAVA programming) exam will be on Tuesday, May 2nd. 


Multidisciplinary

On April 4th, Bioscience and Computer Science classes were engaged by speakers from the ASU W.P.Carey School of Business. Six students from the MBA program spoke about "How to Be a Successful Leader in High School, College, and Beyond". They provided personal testimonials, "life lessons" and insight about topics such as personal finances, study abroad, internships, and leadership styles. There was also an activity where teams work to learn more about communication styles and challenges.


Computer Science Update - February 2017

The AP Computer Science classes are making great progress with their JAVA programming skills.  With only 4 months to prepare for the AP exam, we are working double-time to move through the source material.  We are using curriculum from edhesive.com, and, so far, it has been a good challenge!  The lessons are fairly short and include lots of coding practice and code checkers to make sure specs are followed and content is understood.  We have several students from the Engineering and Bioscience strands joining as for these classes as well, which is GREAT!   Computer science is part of most careers!