DAY 2 - Lesson 2: Explore PT: Make a Plan (1 hr)

Purpose: Describe the elements and purpose of the Explore PT Describe the scoring guidelines for the Explore PT Evaluate sample Explore PTs by applying the scoring guidelines

You need these documents: Explore PT Planning Organizer - High Resolution PDF Explore PT Survival Guide - Student Guide AP CSP Performance Task Directions for Students - College Board Student Handout received yesterday Explore Performance Task - Scoring Guidelines 2018 - College Board Doc – received yesterday

So, I think the biggest issue is to choose a performance task that is indeed a computing innovation. Today’s work will help with that.

This lesson uses the Explore PT Survival Guide - Student Guide as the backbone for a series of activities to ramp up to doing the actual Explore PT. It contains some brainstorming activities around what qualifies as a "computing innovation" for the task as well practical advice and strategies for handling some of the nuances of the task such as distinguishing between a "harmful effect" and a "data security or privacy concern."

The lesson concludes by providing you with resources to make a plan to complete the task starting in the next lesson - tomorrow.

Based on our review of the Explore PT yesterday... What are the main things you have to do for the Explore PT? What should you do first?

A few of the things you need to do: Make computational artifact Provide written responses to prompts Research Cite everything with sources.

What should you do first? Pick a good computing innovation!

Today we will use the Explore PT Survival Guide to get started with the Explore PT. The beginning of the packet has a number of quick activities that help get us in the right mindset for thinking about and doing the task so you are ready to hit the ground running.

The guide will be helpful to you through the entire process of completing the actual Explore Task as well.

So, let’s look at the Survival Guide!

Read Overview (page 1) Not news, because we talked about this yesterday Focus on the suggested process

The Explore PT requires the selection of a computing innovation which includes a computer or program code (software) as an integral part of its functionality.  So now we are getting a clue as to what will work!

Read the bottom of page 1: Picking a Good Computing Innovation Read the bottom of page 1: Picking a Good Computing Innovation.  Based on what we learned yesterday looking at scored samples, and the criteria listed here, what are the characteristics of a computing innovation that make it a good choice for the Explore PT?

Highlight with the yellow markers the criteria in the boxes at the bottom of page 1. If you can answer yes to these three questions, you probably have a true computing innovation.

To get our brains moving we're going to look at a list of potential innovations or topics that someone might consider for the task

Do the activity page 2 of the survival guide Keep in mind that you're not picking your favorite topics, you're picking the ones that are best suited for completing the Explore PT.

ANSWER KEY for PAGE 2

Strong Choices all involve computer code or computing as a core part of their functionality, have broad societal impacts, and make use of data.

Good Choices might need a little finessing to make sure you identify a computational aspect to report on.

Poor Choices either do not themselves include a computer or program code and so are not computing innovations.

Some of these are vague or are combinations of computing and non-computing innovations, which could prove challenging later in your project. For example "email" may be hard to research. Focusing in on a specific computing part of these innovations would help. For example: Police body cameras and 3D printers are a strong choice so long as you focus on the system that actually stores and processes data rather than the hardware.

The goal of this activity is NOT to come up with definitively correct or incorrect "answers" about the list of innovations. Many if not most technological innovations students come up with will be borderline cases that can be used for the Explore PT if framed the right way.

The purpose here is to spur discusion about what makes for a computing innovation - not lead to frustration about what the "right" answers are.

Remember when choosing your computing innovation: Not all technological innovations are computing innovations Focus or refine your choice so you're choosing the "computing" part of your innovation Keep the written responses in mind. If you already have some sense of the data your innovation uses (think literal binary data) and the impacts of the innovation on society you're probably on the right track.

What other innovations did you think of while reviewing this list What other innovations did you think of while reviewing this list? Anything you'd be excited about researching? Just a note – I cannot assign or help you find an innovation! But I can ask you questions so you can evaluate it.

Keep thinking about your own ideas for a computing innovation to use for the Explore PT as we go through the next activities.

Let’s look at page 3 of the Survival Guide.

We have to distinguish between a harmful effect and a data security/privacy concern.

Here’s how to think about it Harmful Effects on Society, Economy, Culture Data Storage, privacy, or security concern It's a harmful effect if the "bad thing" affects a group of people resulting from the intended use of the innovation It's a data security/privacy concern if the data is being used in ways that weren't intended. Let’s go through the list on Page 3 together.

Look at Page 4 of the Survival Guide Highlight the info at the bottom of the page - notes

Time for some rapid research Time for some rapid research! Choose a computing innovation you thought of, or look at the list on page 2 and jump on a computer to research. Write the info in the boxes provided on page 4.

The biggest takeaway from this activity is that it can be very quick and easy to identify a harmful effect if using the right search terms and you can distinguish it from a data security/privacy concern. If it takes more than 10 minutes to find a harmful effect it's probably a sign you should pick a different computing innovation.

Time for you to start planning your Explore PT Time for you to start planning your Explore PT!! Turn to page 5 of the survival guide

This is a planning organizer, and I gave you a second one as well on a separate page. This is a place to take and categorize your notes and thoughts as you research your computing innovation

You should take seriously how you will allocate your time, and should think about how you probably want to maximize the amount of time you have to write the responses and create the artifact. Choosing an innovation and doing the initial research doesn't have to take very long.

We have 8 hours of class time allotted, according to the mandates of the College Board. However, you can work at home, after school, in F113 in the morning, XBlock – whatever works. This part of the PT is due on Monday, Feb 12.

And remember to cite every single source – images, ideas, facts – every single thing!!! Code Studio has a bibliography format to follow, or you can use easybib – whatever works for you.

Tomorrow we start! Be ready with your computing innovation!!!