Curriculum

CS A Course Overview (provided by the College Board)

AP Computer Science A is equivalent to a first-semester, college-level course in computer science. The course introduces students to computer science with fundamental topics that include problem solving, design strategies and methodologies, organization of data (data structures), approaches to processing data (algorithms), analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing. The course emphasizes both object-oriented and imperative problem solving and design using Java language. These techniques represent proven approaches for developing solutions that can scale up from small, simple problems to large, complex problems. The AP Computer Science A course curriculum is compatible with many CS1 courses in colleges and universities.

CSAwesome Curriculum

The goal of the CSAwesome curriculum is to provide an interactive curriculum for students that uses frequent, small practice problems that allow students to incrementally build their Java programming skills. The curriculum is provided online through an e-book and includes many opportunities for creativity and collaboration with other students. The curriculum was designed to engage all students and support students transitioning from a Computer Science Principles (CSP) course to CS A. Students are able to practice their coding in several different ways with immediate feedback: multiple choice questions, drag-and-drop coding problems, and open-ended programming problems.

The CSAwesome curriculum is adapted from Barb Ericson's Java Review book, updated to align with College Board's curriculum framework. The curriculum consists of 10 units with the big ideas of the CS A framework spiraled across the units. In addition, the skills of the CS A framework are both developmentally sequenced and spiraled across the units, building on each other. View the mapping to the College Board CSA LOs and EKs. 

CSAwesome Website and Resource Guide

CSAwesome Website and Resource Guide.pdf