Upcoming Sixth Grade Computer Standards

Standard 6-8.CS.1

Design modifications to computing devices in order to improve the ways users interact with the devices.

Descriptive Statement

Computing devices can extend the abilities of humans, but design considerations are critical to make these devices useful. Students suggest modifications to the design of computing devices and describe how these modifications would improve usabilty.

For example, students could create a design for the screen layout of a smartphone that is more usable by people with vision impairments or hand tremors. They might also design how to use the device as a scanner to convert text to speech.

Alternatively, students could design modifications for a student ID card reader to increase usability by planning for scanner height, need of scanner device to be connected physically to the computer, robustness of scanner housing, and choice of use of RFID or line of sight scanners. (CA NGSS: MS-ETS1-1)

Standard 6-8.CS.2

Design a project that combines hardware and software components to collect and exchange data.

Descriptive Statement

Collecting and exchanging data involves input, output, storage, and processing. When possible, students select the components for their project designs by considering tradeoffs between factors such as functionality, cost, size, speed, accessibility, and aesthetics. Students do not need to implement their project design in order to meet this standard.

For example, students could design a mobile tour app that displays information relevant to specific locations when the device is nearby or when the user selects a virtual stop on the tour. They select appropriate components, such as GPS or cellular-based geolocation tools, textual input, and speech recognition, to use in their project design.

Alternatively, students could design a project that uses a sensor to collect the salinity, moisture, and temperature of soil. They may select a sensor that connects wirelessly through a Bluetooth connection because it supports greater mobility, or they could instead select a physical USB connection that does not require a separate power source. (CA NGSS: MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2)

Standard 6-8.CS.3

Systematically apply troubleshooting strategies to identify and resolve hardware and software problems in computing systems.

Descriptive Statement

When problems occur within computing systems, it is important to take a structured, step-by-step approach to effectively solve the problem and ensure that potential solutions are not overlooked. Examples of troubleshooting strategies include following a troubleshooting flow diagram, making changes to software to see if hardware will work, checking connections and settings, and swapping in working components. Since a computing device may interact with interconnected devices within a system, problems may not be due to the specific computing device itself but to devices connected to it.

For example, students could work through a checklist of solutions for connectivity problems in a lab of computers connected wirelessly or through physical cables. They could also search for technical information online and engage in technical reading to create troubleshooting documents that they then apply. (CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy RST.6-8.10)

Alternatively, students could explore and utilize operating system tools to reset a computer’s default language to English.

Additionally, students could swap out an externally-controlled sensor giving fluctuating readings with a new sensor to check whether there is a hardware problem.

Standard 6-8.NI.4

Model the role of protocols in transmitting data across networks and the Internet.

Descriptive Statement

Protocols are rules that define how messages between computers are sent. They determine how quickly and securely information is transmitted across networks, as well as how to handle errors in transmission. Students model how data is sent using protocols to choose the fastest path and to deal with missing information. Knowledge of the details of how specific protocols work is not expected. The priority at this grade level is understanding the purpose of protocols and how they enable efficient and errorless communication.

For example, students could devise a plan for sending data representing a textual message and devise a plan for resending lost information.

Alternatively, students could devise a plan for sending data to represent a picture, and devise a plan for interpreting the image when pieces of the data are missing.

Additionally, students could model the speed of sending messages by Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or cellular networks and describe ways errors in data transmission can be detected and dealt with.

Standard 6-8.NI.5

Explain potential security threats and security measures to mitigate threats.

Descriptive Statement

Cybersecurity is an important field of study and it is valuable for students to understand the need for protecting sensitive data. Students identify multiple methods for protecting data and articulate the value and appropriateness for each method. Students are not expected to implement or explain the implementation of such technologies.

For example, students could explain the importance of keeping passwords hidden, setting secure router administrator passwords, erasing a storage device before it is reused, and using firewalls to restrict access to private networks.

Alternatively, students could explain the importance of two-factor authentication and HTTPS connections to ensure secure data transmission.

Standard 6-8.NI.6

Apply multiple methods of information protection to model the secure transmission of information.

Descriptive Statement

Digital information is protected using a variety of cryptographic techniques. Cryptography is essential to many models of cybersecurity. At its core, cryptography has a mathematical foundation. Cryptographic encryption can be as simple as letter substitution or as complicated as modern methods used to secure networks and the Internet. Students encode and decode messages using encryption methods, and explore different levels of complexity used to hide or secure information.

For example, students could identify methods of secret communication used during the Revolutionary War (e.g., ciphers, secret codes, invisible ink, hidden letters) and then secure their own methods such as substitution ciphers or steganography (i.e., hiding messages inside a picture or other data) to compose a message from either the Continental Army or British Army. (HSS.8.1)

Alternatively, students could explore functions and inverse functions for encryption and decryption and consider functions that are complex enough to keep data secure from their peers. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 8.F.1)

Standard 6-8.DA.7

Represent data in multiple ways.

Descriptive Statement

Computers store data as sequences of 0s and 1s (bits). Software translates to and from this low-level representation to higher levels that are understandable by people. Furthermore, higher level data can be represented in multiple ways, such as the digital display of a color and its corresponding numeric RGB value, or a bar graph, a pie chart, and table representation of the same data in a spreadsheet.

For example, students could use a color picker to explore the correspondence between the digital display or name of a color (high-level representations) and its RGB value or hex code (low-level representation).

Alternatively, students could translate a word (high-level representation) into Morse code or its corresponding sequence of ASCII codes (low-level representation).

Standard 6-8.DA.8

Collect data using computational tools and transform the data to make it more useful.

Descriptive Statement

Data collection has become easier and more ubiquitous. The cleaning of data is an important transformation for ensuring consistent format, reducing noise and errors (e.g., removing irrelevant responses in a survey), and/or making it easier for computers to process. Students build on their ability to organize and present data visually to support a claim, understanding when and how to transform data so information can be more easily extracted. Students also transform data to highlight or expose relationships.

For example, students could use computational tools to collect data from their peers regarding the percentage of time technology is used for school work and entertainment, and then create digital displays of their data and findings. Students could then transform the data to highlight relationships representing males and females as percentages of a whole instead of as individual counts. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 6.SP.4, 7.SP.3, 8.SP.1, 8.SP.4)

Alternatively, students could collect data from online forms and surveys, from a sensor, or by scraping a web page, and then transform the data to expose relationships. They could highlight the distribution of data (e.g., words on a web page, readings from a sensor) by giving quantitative measures of center and variability. (CA CCSS for Mathematics 6.SP.5.c, 7.SP.4)

 

 

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