The 1998 Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science (CS) Workshop at the Hawken School will take place between Monday, June 29 and Friday, July 3.

This AP CS Workshop will cover topics that apply to a wide range of computer science courses in high schools, with a particular emphasis on topics from the Advanced Placement Program. Since the 1999 AP CS exams will use the C++ programming language rather than Pascal, this workshop will introduce this language in some detail. While AP topics may have particular relevance for those interested in AP CS, the material covered in the workshop will apply to a much wider audience.

This workshop has the following main objectives:

• To encourage high school teachers to further expand and refine their CS courses.
• To provide ideas for general computing teachers to upgrade their courses.
• To help teachers meet the demands of the newly-defined AP CS Course Description.

This Workshop is aimed at current high school computing teachers.

This Workshop does not assume participants are familiar with either case studies or C++, although adjustments may be made in the schedule if participants do have knowledge of either or both of these topics.

Participants are asked to complete and return a survey, prior to the Workshop, as this will help the organizers tailor the sessions to the particular needs of those attending. Completed surveys should be sent to Professor Henry M. Walker, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 50112.

Henry M. Walker is a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA. He also periodically teaches computer science at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from M.I.T. in 1973 and his M.S. in CS from the University of Iowa in 1979. Three of Professor Walker's seven books focus on material in the AP CS Course Description.

Professor Walker has extensive experience as a grader of Advanced Placement tests in computer science for the College Board and as a workshop leader throughout the United States for secondary educators of computer science. For example, his eight 2-day workshops for high school teachers from 1994 to 1996 were attended by 252 teachers in Iowa and Texas, with funding by the Noyce Foundation. The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust funded his week-long workshop last summer at Grinnell College for 23 teachers. Over the years, he also has conducted day-long workshops for the College Board in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, and Manitoba (Canada). Over the years, he has worked with individual high schools in Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas.

Professor Walker is Secretary/Treasurer of SIGCSE, the Special Interest Group in Computer Science , a member of the Liberal Arts Computer Science Consortium , and a member of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsiblity.

Negotiations are underway with several publishers regarding textbooks. These books include:

• Owen L. Astrachan, A Computer Science Tapestry, McGraw-Hill, 1997.
• Nell Dale, Chip Weems, Mark Headington, Programming and Problem Solving with C++, Jones and Bartlett, 1996.
• Rick Decker and Stuart Hirshfield, The Object Concept, PWS Publishing, 1995.
• Maria Litvin, C++ for You++: An Introduction to Programming and Computer Science.

A Tentative Workshop Schedule is available in both .dvi format and postcript format.

Each day, sessions will run from 8:00-noon, 1:00-4:30 pm, and 7:00-9:15pm, except that the Workshop will conclude about 3:00pm on Friday. The evening sessions on Monday and Thursday are optional.

Highlights of this schedule follow.

Monday:

• After opening remarks and introductions, discussion will center on the backgrounds, interests, and concerns of the participants. Adjustments may be made in the schedule, based on this discussion.

• Curricular discussions will begin with a general review of some national curricular guidelines for high school computing, including recommendations from the ACM Task Force on High School Computing and the AP CS program.

• The introduction to C++ will begin with discussion of a few simple and consideration of some specific programming environments. The initial goal will be for each person to be able to enter, edit, compile, and run a C++ program.

• After lunch, the discussion of C++ will continue with annotated examples, covering program structure, input and output, loops, and conditionals.

• In considering the implementation of an AP CS course, discussion may include identification of appropriate hardware and software, selection of students, possible class schedules, textbooks, alternative class formats, testing, and resource material.

• A special session on collaborative learning, including an extended lab exercise, may provide ideas for alternative class formats and learning environments.

• An optional evening session will consider issues related to the responsible use of computers and policies that may support such use.

• An optional evening lab will provide additional experience with C++, particularly with loops and conditionals.

Tuesday:

• A general discussion will review the use of simulation as a problem-solving technique. Subsequent labs will provide experience writing simple simulations in C++.

• A session will consider the concept of case studies in general and the Large Integer Case Study in particular. A C++ version of Large Integer will be used on the AP CS Exam for 1999 and 2000. This discussion will be a time for everyone to become familiar with this material as well as to consider ways to use this case study effectively in the classroom.

• The morning will include a panel discussion, with representatives from nearby colleges and universities discussing their expectations for incoming computer science students. Currently, panelists are anticipated from Case Western Reserve University, Hiram College, Kent State University, and Oberlin College.

• An important component of problem-solving involves the logical organization and specification of segments of code. One important theme is how to develop loops effectively. This motivates the consideration of pre- and post-conditions and informal loop invariants. While more formal work is possible, the emphasis will be on the articulation of ideas in English.

• An introductory lab will allow interested participants to explore the World-Wide Web to locate a variety of resources, including materials relevant for AP CS.

• An (mandatory) evening lab will provide additional practice with the case study or discussion of recursion in C++.

• If there is interest, an evening session also might discuss alternative problem-solving paradigms.

Wednesday:

• Discussion of the Large Integer Case Study will conclude with brainstorming sessions on assignments and test questions and with the sharing of experiences gained from Tuesday's labs.

• In general discussions, participants will share some of their favorite assignments and projects.

• Since problem-solving is a primary thrust of an AP CS course, Wednesday's schedule includes a careful review of two distinct approaches for solving problems, a top-down/algorithmic view and an object-oriented/data-driven view. These perspectives also motivate different elements of programming languages and explain some of the differences between Pascal and C++.

• Several sessions will review additional features of C++, including functions, files, classes, and objects.

• The classic CS film, Sorting Out Sorting, will be shown in the (mandatory) evening session.

• The (mandatory) evening lab also will provide an opportunity for participants to solve some recent AP CS Exam questions in C++.

Thursday:

• Several sessions (starting the previous night) will consider the AP CS exam itself, looking at past exam problems and considering how these problems have been graded. Some discussion also will consider how Pascal solutions to selected problems might differ from C++ solutions to the same problems.

• Efforts are being made to organize a panel of employers, who will share their perspectives of the job market for computing professionals and who will identify backgrounds they hope to find in potential employee candidates. If details can be worked out, such a session would give workshop participants ideas for advising students about possible career paths.

• Beyond C++, several sessions will consider the more general topics of searching, sorting, and recursion. Discussion will review basic concepts as well as ideas for teaching these subjects.

• While most of the discussion throughout the week will focus upon material for a first CS course, an optional evening session will review elements of pointers, lists, and trees -- all possible topics for a second year high school course.

• Another optional evening activity will include the showing of the film, The Design of C++, by Bjarne Stroustrup -- the designer and original implementer of the language.

Friday:

• Searching and sorting algorithms provide an appropriate context for a discussion of the formal analysis of algorithms, with a review of micro-analysis, macro-analysis, and Big-O notation.

• In order to help integrate various ideas from the week, participants will consider various practical issues, including lesson planning and class development.

• Since the AP CS AB Course Description includes lists, pointers, trees, stacks, and queues, some discussion and laboratory work will consider how these topics might be covered in a C++ based course. More generally, these sessions will extend previous discussions of how the concept of an abstract data type translates to an object-oriented environment.

Course activities will involve a combination of the lectures, small- and large-group discussions, laboratory exercises, panels, and films.

All attendees are expected to participate actively in all sessions.

In addition, in order to receive credit for this workshop, you must write a paper, reviewing the computing curriculum at your high school in the light of the various discussions at this workshop. Unless special arrangements have been made, the registration paperwork, check payment, and paper should be received by July 15.

This workshop seeks to suggest new perspectives and ideas about computing and computer science, based upon printed materials, presentations, panels, discussions, opportunities for sharing, and the field trip. The goal for this assignment, therefore, is to encourage you to think about this information, about courses you teach, and about the general shape of the computing curriculum offered by your school district.

More specifically, in a paper, please review your computing courses and curriculum on the basis of what you heard this week. For example, you might address such questions as:

• What ideas or perspectives seemed particularly worthwhile from this conference?
• What elements of the your current computing curriculum seem particularly important and successful?
• What refinements or expansions might be appropriate for your computing courses or for the computing curriculum in your district?
• What are your thoughts concerning the use of either C++ or case studies in your curriculum?
• What long term directions do you think are appropriate for the computing courses or curriculum?
• Does AP computer science have a role for your courses or your school? Is AP CS irrelevant, a long-term goal, a short-term goal? Does AP CS provide a general direction for exploration?

     http://www.math.grin.edu/~walker/courses/summer/hawken-98.html