Ninth-grade students enroll in the full-year Life Skills course that includes physical education, technology, sustainability, and Self and Community. In the technology unit of this rotation, students will gain exposure to the many digital tools used by teachers, administrators, coaches and staff at DA, including but not limited to: cloud technology, collaborative document sharing, digital multimedia presentation and collaborative presentation tools, school and student information systems (currently Veracross), and others.
The course also focuses on the ever-emerging ethical and social issues that are increasingly becoming an inherent part of students’ lives, specifically information privacy and protection, big data, and artificial intelligence. The course aspires to provide students with the skills to stay engaged and competitive in emerging models of a digital classroom. The course is structured as a portfolio exercise and concludes with a test. Successful completion of technology seminar exempts students from the required graduation course credit and allows students to earn administrative privileges on their DA-issued laptop.
Note: Students new to DA in grades 10, 11 or 12 who do not have a computer science credit must demonstrate technology proficiency similar to that of ninth-grade students who complete the technology seminar. Those students who are unable to demonstrate proficiency must sign up for a computer science course to earn the one-semester credit requirement.
Foster an inclusive computing culture.
Collaborate around computing.
Recognize and define computational problems.
Develop and use abstractions.
Create computational artifacts.
Test and refine computational artifacts.
Communicate about computing.
This course is a one-semester course designed to help prepare students for enrolling in the ADV CS II: Data Structures and Algorithms course, or it can serve as an introductory exposure to computer programming and computer science.
In Robotics I, students will be introduced to theoretical and practical engineering and programming skills while preparing for the challenge of interscholastic competition. Students study computer programming and principles of mechanical engineering, design artificial intelligence behaviors and build basic robots.
In the CS I: Game Design course, students will design and code games and learn more about screen geometry, class design, event scripting, animation engines and project management.
In Robotics II, students will build on concepts covered in Robotics I and further apply new knowledge acquired about electrical materials, electric circuits, electromagnetism, computer science and mechanics.
This course is a full-year, broadly focused exploration of Java programming that mirrors a 100-level college computer science course.
This semester-long course delves into machine learning, automation algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics using Python’s data analysis and visualization libraries.
This course is a semester-long, focused exploration of advanced data structures in Java, spanning array lists, vectors, linked lists, stacks, queues, binary trees, heaps, dictionaries and lookup tables.