COMPUTER SCIENCE

INTERNATIONAL GCSE

Kyle Zhang
21st February 2021
Agenda

Curriculum recap
Curriculum planning
Resources and support

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 CURRICULUM
RECAP

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Assessment Objectives

AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the key

concepts and principles of computer science

AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding of key concepts and

principles of computer science

AO3: Analyse problems in computational terms in order to

develop and test programmed solutions and demonstrate an
understanding of programming concepts
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 Subject content
Algorithms Representing algorithms; Efficiency of algorithms; Searching algorithms; Sorting algorithms
Programming Data types; Programming concepts; Arithmetic operations in a programming language; Relational operations in a programming
language; Boolean operations in a programming language; Data structures; Input/output and file handling; String handling
operations in a programming; Random number generation in a programming; Subroutines (procedures and functions);
Structured programming; Robust and secure programming; Classification of programming languages
Data Number bases; Converting between number bases; Units of information; Binary arithmetic; Character encoding; Representing
representation images; Representing sound; Data compression
Computer Hardware and software; Boolean logic; Software classification; Systems architecture
systems
Computer Define what a computer network is and discuss the benefits and risks of computer networks
networks
Cyber security Cyber security threats (Social engineering / Malicious code); Methods to detect and prevent cyber security

Relational Relational databases; Database design; Structured query language (sql)

databases and
structured query Unique to
language (SQL) Oxford
Web page design Key concepts; Hypertext markup language (html) AQA

6
Assessment structure
Unique on-screen
programming
exam based on a
pre-release
skeleton program

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 CURRICULUM
PLANNING

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Covid-19

Unpredictable future
Missed classroom teaching last academic year
Students reintegrated into school

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Coronavirus survey – your responses

We sent a questionnaire to all our teachers, asking you about

your experiences around coronavirus: how long your school was
closed and the major challenges you faced
We also asked about the challenges and concerns ahead

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Coronavirus survey – your responses

74% of schools were closed for longer than three months

68% of you delivered some kind of ‘live’ online lessons
71% of you are think there is a ‘good chance’ or are ‘convinced’
there will be further lockdowns this academic year – and 83% of
schools already have plans in place
Most pressing concern about the impact of Covid-19 on your
students: different levels of student
engagement/learning during lockdown

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Coronavirus survey – your responses

What is the most significant challenge for a teacher during

lockdown?
Top three responses:
Planning lessons that engage students
Differentiating work for different students
Ensuring full coverage of the curriculum

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Covid-19 – best practice

Assessment for Learning / Data for Learning – where are the

knowledge/skill gaps?
Independent learning
Online platforms/forums
Increased digital
teaching (blended
learning?)

What elements of your response to school closure do you want

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to keep and maintain in the ‘new normal’?
Covid-19 – OxfordAQA
approach
GCSE Computer Science course designed with flexibility in mind
Scheme of Work can be condensed if necessary
Online versions of textbook available
Emphasis on higher-order critical thinking skills
rewards independent learning

If you are interested in student-led, independent project work, you

may want to investigate our GCSE Plus endorsement
Many schools exploring how it can help foster independence and
improve transition to A-level
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Switching guide
https://www.oxfordaqaexams.org.uk/subjects/computer
-science/international-gcse-computer-science-9210

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Switching guide
https://www.oxfordaqaexa
ms.org. uk/subjects/computer-
science/international-gcse-
computer-science-9210

Most significant differences

Additional content in sections 3.7
(relational databases) and 3.8
(web page design). Less content
on networking, how hardware
devices work and legal and
ethical issues. A very practical
course.

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Scheme of work

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Suggested time breakdown
Spec Topic Learning Time
reference (Hours)
3.1 Algorithms
50
3.2 Programming
3.1 - 3.2 Programming consolidation / extension 30
3.3 Data representation 8.5
3.4 Computer systems 6
3.5 Computer networks 4
3.6 Cyber security 2.5
3.7 Relational Databases and SQL 5.5
3.8 Web page design 4.25
3.1 – 2.8 Assessments and exam preparation 9.25
Programming Mixed "Theory" Total 120

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Sept – Dec overview
Main focus on programming and algorithms (could be exclusively)
Consider also covering one theory topic:
Suggested Option 1: Suggested Option 2:
3.3 – Data Representation (8.5 hours) 3.4 – Computer Systems (6 hours)

Skills based so students may find it easier More theoretical so may be harder for
to recall two years later for exam, can students to recall later but a good
support some programming, but students starting point covering basic computer
are simultaneously learning lots of architecture and a bigger contrast to
programming skills so could be too many programming that the data
new skills at once. representation topic is.

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Sept – Dec overview
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Week

Input, Output, Variables, Selection (If, Case), Definite Iteration (For) Indefinite Iteration
2/3 Time

Data Types, Assignment And Or Not, Test Data, (While, Repeat),

Practical

Flowcharts or Random Numbers

Psuedo- Code.

None Binary Hex Units, Text Images Sound Compression

Theory (Opt 1)

Arith
al C# Input and
Prog
ic output,

metic
C# Selection Test
act assignment,
Pr 1
maths
ry
e Binary Hex Text
o
Th

CPU Storage The Embe Logic Circuits Softw

Perfor Cloud dded are
manc Devices Syste
e ms
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2)
Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 1-3)

Introduction of
key programming
concepts and
use of the
development
environment

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 1-3)
Suggested programming exercises:
“Hello World”
Input and concatenation of strings – eg forename and surname
Simple calculations – eg adding three inputs
Adding up cost of a meal at a restaurant (maybe including a discount)
More complex calculations – eg area of shapes
Good idea to use some framework code but students also need
to program from a specification without being given code
Have a programming test at the end of this period to identify
students who need further support

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 1-3)
Most important thing is that students understand the basics,
even if this means this section of the course takes longer
Use homework to support understanding of programming
Suggested homework exercises:
Selecting appropriate data types for contexts
Identifying errors in program code
Completing missing commands in code

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 1-3)
Textbook contains some
questions that you can
use for homeworks.

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 1-3)
Textbook also contains exemplar program code if you
choose to teach using Python:

The teaching guide contains advice on choosing a

programming language
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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 4-6)

Use of the If
statement and
consolidation of
previous
programming
skills

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 4-6)
Suggested practical exercises:
Pass/Fail of exam, extended to pass/fail/merit or grade award
Classifying a person by age
Identifying the biggest of two/three numbers
Triangle classification (equilateral, etc)
Classify temperature into categories (eg 0
to 9 degrees = cold)
Simple quiz with score added up
Suggested homework exercises:
Selecting conditions for selection statements, using AND/OR/NOT to link
Identifying errors in program code
Choosing suitable test data
Could introduce random number here?
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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 4-6)
Introduce pseudocode or
flowcharts, with
students to write code
from them
Could use examples from
textbook:

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 6-8)

Use of the for

statement and
consolidation of
previous
programming
skills

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 6-8)
Suggested practical exercises:
Count from one to ten
Display a countdown (instead of up)
Display times tables (could use nesting)
Display a string one character at a time
Add up numbers and for extension find average, highest and lowest
Searching for prime numbers (requires nesting)
Suggested homework exercises:
Identifying errors in program code
Drawing flowcharts or writing pseudocode from program code
Might not need all three weeks – could move onto indefinite iteration
earlier?

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 9-12)

Use of the while

statement (and
possibly do ..
while), use of
random numbers
and consolidation
of previous
programming
skills

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Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 9-12)
Suggested practical exercises:
Simple validation
Checking a password or username and password
Adding up sequence of numbers until terminated
Guess the number game with extension of clues
being given
Addition test with values in questions generated at random
Throwing dice and counting results
Darts game with dart throws simulated by random
numbers
Good idea to test students regularly to check
understanding and identify anyone who needs extra
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support
Sept – Dec Practical (Weeks 9-12)
Textbook contains
examples and tutorials
for schools using
Python

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 1-2)
Don’t do any theory work
Give students time to get used to programming
In this presentation will look at suggested option 1 on data
representation in detail, but don’t forget option 2 on hardware if
you want to do less skills-based work with students at the
start of the course

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 3 Binary)
Important topic for students to understand
Once students have some basic programming skills, can be
used as the basis for programming tasks – eg conversion
Textbooks contains explanations and some exercises but
students should tackle more questions to get used to
the techniques for conversion
Online games available that students can play – eg
https://games.penjee.com/binary-numbers-game/

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 3 Binary)
Textbook contains explanations and some exercises.

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 4 Hex)
Need to teach conversion methods:
Decimal
→ 
H
e
x Hex
→ 
Decimal Binary
→ Hex
Hex →
Binary
Could do decimal to hex and vice-versa directly or via binary
Also need to explain why hexadecimal is useful
Good examples are colour codes for HTML or memory
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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 4 Hex)
Textbook covers methods and some questions.
Example questions in specimen and past papers on
OxfordAQA website (some need login):

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 5
Units and Arithmetic)
Students need to:
Know the basic quantities used to measure memory – eg bit, byte,
kilobyte
Be able to convert between different units of memory
Be able to add up binary numbers
Be able to shift binary numbers and know the effect
of doing so
Remember that we are using the International System of Units
(Si) quantities which uses powers of 10 so 1kB = 1000 bytes
and so on
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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 5
Units and Arithmetic)
These are
largely skills-
based activities
so students need
to practice doing
them by
completing
example
questions

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 6 Text)
Students need to
understand ASCII and
Unicode and why Unicode
was introduced
Can be incorporated into
programming exercises
Useful websites cover the
code tables:
http://www.asciitable.com
https://unicode-table.com/en/

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 7-
8 Images)
Only need to cover bitmap images
We’ve taken a practical approach so students need to be able to do
things like:
Calculate the size of an image file
Convert an image to binary and vice-versa
In addition they need to be able to explain the basic way that a
bitmap works and key terms like resolution and colour depth
Can use software to look at images and the stored
binary/hexadecimal data for pixel colour
Can do calculations and check they are correct for real images
(remember the metadata takes up some space too)
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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 7-
8 Images)
Textbook covers content and has
examples and exercises
Further questions in specimen and past
papers

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 9-10 Sound)
Students need to understand the sampling process and must
be able to calculate sound file sizes
Students can use software
such as Audacity to sample
sound themselves (but
this is not necessary)
Sampled audio files can be
played back in most
programming languages

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Week 9-10 Sound)
Important to practice sound file size calculation, such as
those in the textbook and specimen exam papers

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 11-
12 Compression)
Students need to understand what compression is and the
difference between lossless and lossy compression
They also need to be able to understand and carry out run-
length encoding and Huffman coding
Again we have taken a practical approach where students
need to be able to do these things, so practice exercises
are important

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 11-
12 Compression)
Can illustrate lossy compression by showing images
compressed to different degrees, for example as JPEGs, if you
have image editing software that lets you set the balance
between quality and compression effectiveness
Students tend to find RLE fairly straightforward but Huffman
encoding more challenging
For Huffman encoding students to be able to decompress data
when given a Huffman tree and also to be able to build their
own tree to compress some data

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 11-
12 Compression)
Textbook contains example processes
and questions
Useful to supplement these with
teacher going through examples of
methods or videos showing the
processes in use

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Sept – Dec “Theory” (Weeks 11-
Compression)
12
Questions for students can be
found in textbook and on
specimen and past papers

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 RESOURCES

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Textbook Order online at
https://global.oup.com/education/product/9780198

417354/?region=uk

Or contact your local OUP rep

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Teacher guidance video

Available from the OxfordAQA

Online Staffroom
Covers all aspects of the
curriculum and assessment
structure
Overview of support
package

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Specimen papers

Specimen papers and mark schemes

available on our website

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Specimen papers

Additional set of mock papers (with

mark schemes) behind login

All past papers will also be stored in

the login section of the website,
along with exemplar responses

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Online staffroom

All secure materials stored here

Teacher guidance and updates
Access only for teaching schools
Logins issued by centre Exams
Officer

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Enhanced Results Analysis (ERA)

Exclusive access to industry-

leading results analysis tool
Allows you to compare
student
performance at high level
and in
granular detail (eg, compare
grades, skill performance, marks
or individual answers)
Create your own test groups to Used by over 40,000
compare different classes,
streams, genders, etc teachers in the UK
Use the results to inform next
year’s delivery of the
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syllabus
Teacher guidance document

Detailed guidance on all aspects of

the GCSE Computer Science
course, including:

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Teacher guidance document

Detailed guidance on all aspects of

the GCSE Computer Science
course, including:
Advice on course planning

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Teacher guidance document

Detailed guidance on all aspects of

the GCSE Computer Science
course, including:
Advice on course planning
A pseudocode command set

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Teacher guidance document

Detailed guidance on all aspects of

the GCSE Computer Science
course, including:
Advice on course planning
A pseudocode command set
A list of exam command words and
their definition

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Teacher guidance document

Detailed guidance on all aspects of

the GCSE Computer Science
course, including:
Advice on course planning
A pseudocode command set
A list of exam command words and
their definition
Guidance on how to select a
programming language for the
programming paper

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GCSE Plus

GCSE Plus: an additional

endorsement students can take
alongside our GCSE Science
qualifications
Graded: Pass, Merit,
Distinction
“It would give students a chance to
shine in their chosen subject”
King's College London

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GCSE Plus

Student discusses initial idea with

Idea for project supervisor.

Student researches and develops a Project

Project proposal Proposal for supervisor to endorse.

Student researches, produces project and

Produce project maintains a Progress Diary, guided by
10 hours of taught skills.

Submission Student submits 2000-word report and

Progress Diary with completed Review.

Students awarded a Pass / Merit / Distinction

endorsement with their Int’l GCSE grade for each
subject.

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Support plan
December
November
Exam series feedback
Marking Guidance
report
webinar training

October
Go Further With Your
Teaching training Throughout the year:
webinars • Regional Qualifications Consultants
(some subjects)
• OUP textbook consultant
• AQA curriculum experts via

oxfordaqaexams.org.uk/ask
September
Key
Getting Started webinar
training March Plan
(all subjects) ‘Prepare to Teach’
webinar training Teach
(all subject
areas)
30/09/2020 Assess 64
Q&A button at the bottom of your
screen

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Further training and support
Sign up for Marking Guidance training on 2nd November
Click here
Visit our Training & Events page for upcoming events
Click here
Subscribe to keep up to date with the latest news and events
Click here
Still have questions? Ask a subject or exams expert
Click here

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