CRANBERRY TWP — Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles is one of the newest AP courses that College Board has approved. It is a quick-paced and rigorous class in terms of the content, readings and research, but has been designed in such a way that students do not need an introductory CS class to take it.

The course is half computing knowledge — including how computers work, the internet and computing ethics — and half programming. College Board does not confine teachers to any particular language. This past summer, the course instructor, Keith Zielen, attended an AP Mobile CSP training whose curriculum uses App Inventor as the language. Students at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic and across the country whose schools opt for this Mobile option have been writing apps for Android-based phones and tablets. Each student has been creating a portfolio to showcase his or her work which includes project demonstration, reflections and reports.

In recent weeks, the CSP students have been practicing for the AP exam that occurs this April. The students have been simulating an application that can be used on any Android device that could potentially be sold in the Google Play Store in the near future. Some examples of the innovative apps that students created were helpful to certain demographics of people, such as organizational apps for busy people or homework scorekeeper apps for students. Students will create another original app for submission to the College Board for grading in April, putting all of their learning acquisition into fruition for the end of the course.

This article was submitted by Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.