Exam Board : OCR J277 [GCSE 9-1] 

Specification

Component 01: Computer systems

Introduces students to the central processing unit (CPU), computer memory and storage, data representation, wired and wireless networks, network topologies, system security and system software. It also looks at ethical, legal, cultural and environmental concerns associated with computer science.

Component 02: Computational thinking, algorithms and programming

Students apply knowledge and understanding gained in component 01. They develop skills and understanding in computational thinking: algorithms, programming techniques, producing robust programs, computational logic and translators.

Practical programming

Students are to be given the opportunity to undertake a programming task(s) during their course of study which allows them to develop their skills to design, write, test and refine programs using a high-level programming language. Students will be assessed on these skills during the written examinations, in particular component 02 (section B).

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Curriculum Allocation

GCSE Computer Science is taught for FOUR 100 minute lessons per fortnight in Year 10.

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Curriculum Period 1:

Curriculum content

Boolean Logic

• Simple logic diagrams using the operations (AND, OR and NOT) and Truth Tables
• Combining Boolean operators using AND, OR and NOT and Truth Tables
• Applying Logical operators in truth tables to solve problems

Units

• The units of data storage: Bit, Nibble (4 bits), Byte (8 bits), Kilobyte (1000 bytes or 1KB), Megabyte (1000 KB), Gigabyte (1000 MB), Terabyte (1000 GB), Petabyte (1000 TB)
• How data needs to be converted into a binary format to be processed by a computer.
• Data capacity and calculation of data capacity requirements

Data Storage : Numbers

• How to convert positive denary whole numbers to binary numbers (up to and including 8 bits) and vice versa
• How to add two binary integers together (up to and including 8 bits) and explain overflow errors which may occur
• How to convert positive denary whole numbers into 2-digit hexadecimal numbers and vice versa
• How to convert from binary to hexadecimal equivalents and vice versa
• Binary Shifts

Designing, creating and refining algorithms 

• Identify the inputs, processes, and outputs for a problem
• Structure Diagrams
• Create, interpret, correct, complete, and refine algorithms using: Flowcharts
• Create, interpret, correct, complete, and refine algorithms using: Pseudocode
• Create, interpret, correct, complete, and refine algorithms using: Reference language / high-level programming language
• Identify common errors and Trace Tables

Data Types

• The use of data types: Integer, Real, Boolean, Character, String and Casting

Assessment

The first assessment will cover all sections from Boolean Logic, Units, Data Storage (Numbers), Designing, creating and refining algorithms and Data Types.

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Curriculum Period 2:

Curriculum content

Programming Fundamentals

• The use of the three basic programming constructs used to control the flow of a program: Sequence, Selection and Iteration (count- and condition- controlled loops)
• The common arithmetic operators
• The common Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT

Practical Programming Skills

• The programming task(s) must allow pupils to develop skills within the following areas when programming: Design, Write, Test and Refine.
• Pupils will complete a series of tasks, using a high-level text-based programming language (PYTHON), to solve a problem/problems.

Additional Programming Techniques

• The use of basic string manipulation
• The use of basic file handling operations: OPEN, READ, WRITE and CLOSE
• The use of records to store data
• The use of SQL to search for data
• The use of arrays (or equivalent) when solving problems, including both one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) arrays
• How to use sub programs (functions and procedures) to produce structured code
• Random number generation

Data Storage : Characters

• The use of binary codes to represent characters and the term ‘character-set’
• The relationship between the number of bits per character in a character set, and the number of characters which can be represented, e.g.: ASCII and Unicode

Assessment

The second assessment will cover all sections from Programming Fundamentals, Practical Programming Skills, Additional Programming Techniques and Data Storage (Characters).

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Curriculum Period 3:

Curriculum content

Data Storage : Images

• How an image is represented as a series of pixels, represented in binary
• Metadata
• The effect of colour depth and resolution on: The quality of the image and The size of an image file

Data Storage : Sound

• How sound can be sampled and stored in digital form
• The effect of sample rate, duration and bit depth on: The playback quality and The size of a sound file

Compression

• The need for compression
• Types of compression: Lossy and Lossless

Architecture of the CPU

• The purpose of the CPU
• The fetch-execute (FE) cycle
• Common CPU components and their function: ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) , CU (Control Unit) , Cache and Registers
• Von Neumann architecture: MAR (Memory Address Register), MDR (Memory Data Register), Program Counter and Accumulator

CPU Performance

• How common characteristics of CPUs affect their performance: Clock speed, Cache size and Number of Cores

Embedded Systems

• The purpose and characteristics of embedded systems
• Examples of embedded systems

Primary Storage (Memory)

• The need for primary storage
• The difference between RAM and ROM
• The purpose of ROM in a computer system
• The purpose of RAM in a computer system
• Virtual memory

Secondary Storage

• The need for secondary storage
• Common types of storage: Optical, Magnetic and Solid State / Suitable storage devices and storage media for a given application
• The advantages and disadvantages of different storage devices and storage media relating to these characteristics: Capacity, Speed, Portability, Durability, Reliability and Cost.

Network & Topologies

• Types of network: LAN and WAN
• Factors that affect the performance of networks
• The different roles of computers in a client-server and a peer-to-peer network
• Star and Mesh network topologies
• The hardware needed to connect stand-alone computers into a Local Area Network: Wireless Access Points, Routers, Switches, NICs and Transmission Media
• The Internet as a worldwide collection of computer networks: DNS, Hosting, The Cloud, Webservers and Clients
  

Wired and wireless networks, protocols and layers

• Modes of connection: Wired (Ethernet) and Wireless (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth)
• IP addressing and MAC addressing
• Encryption
• Standards
• Common Protocols including: TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), POP (Post Office Protocol), IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
• The concept of layers

Assessment

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Revision resources

Recommended revision materials: endon.fireflycloud.net/computing-and-computer-science/revision-guides

Subject advice and guidance

If you need any further guidance then please contact your child’s teacher via email:

Mr Plant [r.plant@endon.shaw-education.org.uk]

Mrs Brownsett [g.brownsett@endon.shaw-education.org.uk]