CWNC starts new class
CRANBERRY TWP — A new computer science course recently approved by the College Board of Education is making waves at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School.
The advanced placement course, Computer Science Principles, is in its first semester of being taught to students.
“It's a low-barrier entry computer science course,” said Keith Zielen, the course's teacher. “This one has literally no prerequisite courses. You don't have to a have a certain level of math or programming experience.”
Students are able to use whichever programming languages they want to.
“By the end of the course, you're designing Android apps,” Zielen said. “Kids will see fragments of code that look like puzzle pieces.”
Zielen, a math teacher at North Catholic, is in his second year at the school.
He attended a seminar last year with grant funding to be certified to teach the course.
Zielen said 24 students are enrolled in the class, which was “a last-minute addition.” “Some of them (students) had signed up for different computer classes and then were asked if they wanted to switch in,” he said. “So next year, we'll find out how many kids are actually interested.”
Another section of the class could be added pending student enrollment.
Students recently completed a project where they had to create computer applications from scratch. Apps created include a “bus driver buddy” that helps predict how long until a bus completes its route and an app that helps musicians choose songs for auditions.
Five North Catholic students last year won Best in Nation honors for the Verizon Innovative App Challenge for Safe Speed, which aims to improve car safety for teenage drivers and passengers.
They debuted their app at the 2016 National Technology Student Association Conference in Nashville.
Zielen said two of those students are in the computer science principles class and that apps created in the class could be submitted for awards.
Ellen Cavanaugh, adviser for the Safe Speed team and CEO for Grow a Generation, said the school will enter a move making contest highlighting the course.
The movie will be submitted to the Carnegie Science Center's High Five digital video competition.
“We'll be doing that at the end of January through March,” Cavanaugh said. “To me, that's exciting.”
