What's taught in Key Stage 3 computing

In computing, students should be taught to:
 

• understand and use the basic principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• analyse problems in computational terms, and write computer programs to solve these problems
• evaluate and use IT to solve problems
• use ICT reponsibly, confidently and creatively.

Here are the kinds of things your child might learn at school:

• A group of year 7 pupils are introduced to the school intranet and asked to create guidelines for using the system. The guidelines could take the form of a desktop-published handbook or a multimedia presentation. The class learns how to log on to the network, launch applications, access shared files and save work into their own area.
   
• Year 8 children learn about the hardware and software components of a computer, and how they communicate with each other and with other systems
   
• Year 9 pupils use programming language to create a virtual pet that will die if it's not taken care of.

• If you can, try to provide opportunities for your child to use a wider range of information communication technology, such as keyboards, remote control devices, recording equipment or even doing the shopping for you on the internet (although you may want to enter your card details yourself!).
   
• Encourage your child to make the most of the computer to improve the presentation of homework by using text, graphs, pictures, sound or video and so forth.
   
• Researching up-to-date information from secondary sources like the internet or a multimedia encyclopaedia can make a difference to marks. However, remember to talk to your child about dangers of copying work.