Software engineering
This list includes resources about software engineering.
Unplugged starter activity for waterfall methodology
Understanding the key development methodologies is an important part of most A-level specifications. This is a great activity to engage the students at the start of the topic, as no prior knowledge is required. This resource needs to be cut out and laminated. Ideally, each waterfall step should be separated, along with the definitions. The student should first match the definition with the step and then see if they can put the steps in order.
Alison Earnshaw is the author of the resource
Software development life cycle module
This is a set of five lessons on software development for students aged 14-16.
The presentations cover the software development life cycle and introduce each of the different development mythologies. The remaining presentations focus upon prototyping and testing. These resources could be a useful resource for the students during useful the programming NEA.
Included in the pack is a student assessment and corresponding mark scheme.
Carrie Rudd is the author of this resource.
Wrestling with Python unit testing
A detailed presentation on how Test Driven Development (TDD) can be implemented in Python using the unittest library. This resource is aimed at students aged 14 - 16 taking part in a GCSE NEA or equivalent programming project. Writing automated tests as a first step in software development is common practice in industry. This resource, includes a step-by-step guide on how this approach can be implemented by students; Students at all levels would benefit from taking this approach.
Getting started with GUIs
In this resource students will create two simple GUIs (graphical user interfaces) in Python.
The Chocolate Factory - Human Interface Design
The aim of this activity is to raise awareness of human interface design issues. In a world where poor design is rife, people have become accustomed to dealing with problems caused by the artifacts with which they interact, sometimes blaming themselves instead of attributing the problems to flawed design. The issue is greatly heightened by computers because they have no obvious purpose, indeed, they are completely general in purpose and their appearance gives no clues about what they are for nor how to operate them. The resource begins with a detailed explanation of the activity, what to do and how to carry out the task with a class. There follows variations and extensions and further information about human-computer interaction followed by worksheets for use with the activity. This collection of twenty activities from Computer Science Unplugged is designed to aid the teaching and learning of computer science through engaging games and puzzles using cards, string, crayons and lots of running around.
Making games with Python & Pygame
This resource is a detailed guide to Pygame. Pygame is an open source library that allows students to make graphical computer games and multimedia applications in the Python programming language. The book is suitable for students aged 14 – 18 years, Ideally, students should already have been taught the basics of Python i.e. variables, selection and iteration. The first two chapters introduce the basics of Pygame and how to install it. The preceding chapters work through a series of projects that increase in complexity. The final projects, might make a good starting point for a Level 3 programming project.
Al Sweigart is the author and copyright holder of this resource.