IB Computer Science SL standards
| Standard | Big Idea |
|---|---|
| 'System fundamentals | |
| Identify the context for which a new system is planned. | System fundamentals |
| Describe the need for change management. | System fundamentals |
| Outline compatibility issues resulting from situations including legacy systems or business mergers. | System fundamentals |
| Compare the implementation of systems using a client’s hardware with hosting systems remotely. | System fundamentals |
| Evaluate alternative installation processes. | System fundamentals |
| Discuss problems that may arise as a part of data migration. | System fundamentals |
| Suggest various types of testing. | System fundamentals |
| Describe the importance of user documentation. | System fundamentals |
| Evaluate different methods of providing user documentation. | System fundamentals |
| Evaluate different methods of delivering user training. | System fundamentals |
| Identify a range of causes of data loss. | System fundamentals |
| Outline the consequences of data loss in a specified situation. | System fundamentals |
| Describe a range of methods that can be used to prevent data loss. | System fundamentals |
| Describe strategies for managing releases and updates. | System fundamentals |
| Define the terms: hardware, software, peripheral, network, human resources. | System fundamentals |
| Describe the roles that a computer can take in a networked world. | System fundamentals |
| Discuss the social and ethical issues associated with a networked world. | System fundamentals |
| Identify the relevant stakeholders when planning a new system. | System fundamentals |
| Describe methods of obtaining requirements from stakeholders. | System fundamentals |
| Describe appropriate techniques for gathering the information needed to arrive at a workable solution. | System fundamentals |
| Construct suitable representations to illustrate system requirements. | System fundamentals |
| Describe the purpose of prototypes to demonstrate the proposed system to the client. | System fundamentals |
| Discuss the importance of iteration during the design process. | System fundamentals |
| Explain the possible consequences of failing to involve the end-user in the design process. | System fundamentals |
| Discuss the social and ethical issues associated with the introduction of new IT systems. | System fundamentals |
| Define the term usability. | System fundamentals |
| Identify a range of usability problems with commonly used digital devices. | System fundamentals |
| Identify methods that can be used to improve the accessibility of systems. | System fundamentals |
| Identify a range of usability problems that can occur in a system. | System fundamentals |
| Discuss the moral, ethical, social, economic and environmental implications of the interaction between humans and machines. | System fundamentals |
| Computer Organization | |
| Outline the architecture and function of the CPU, ALU, CU and the registers within the CPU. | Computer organization |
| Describe primary memory. | Computer organization |
| Explain the use of cache memory. | Computer organization |
| Explain the machine instruction cycle. | Computer organization |
| Identify the need for persistent storage. | Computer organization |
| Describe the main functions of an operating system. | Computer organization |
| Outline the use of a range of application software. | Computer organization |
| Identify common features of applications. | Computer organization |
| Define the terms: bit, byte, binary, denary/decimal, hexadecimal. | Computer organization |
| Outline the way in which data is represented in the computer. | Computer organization |
| Define the Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR. | Computer organization |
| Construct truth tables using the above operators. | Computer organization |
| Construct a logic diagram using AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR gates. | Computer organization |
| Networks | |
| Identify different types of networks. | Networks |
| Outline the importance of standards in the construction of networks. | Networks |
| Describe how communication over networks is broken down into different layers. | Networks |
| Identify the technologies required to provide a VPN. | Networks |
| Evaluate the use of a VPN. | Networks |
| Define the terms: protocol, data packet. | Networks |
| Explain why protocols are necessary. | Networks |
| Explain why the speed of data transmission across a network can vary. | Networks |
| Explain why compression of data is often necessary when transmitting across a network. | Networks |
| Outline the characteristics of different transmission media. | Networks |
| Explain how data is transmitted by packet switching. | Networks |
| Outline the advantages and disadvantages of wireless networks. | Networks |
| Describe the hardware and software components of a wireless network. | Networks |
| Describe the characteristics of wireless networks. | Networks |
| Describe the different methods of network security. | Networks |
| Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each method of network security. | Networks |
| Computational thinking, problem-solving and programming | |
| Identify the procedure appropriate to solving a problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Evaluate whether the order in which activities are undertaken will result in the required outcome. | Computational Thinking |
| Explain the role of sub-procedures in solving a problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify when decision-making is required in a specified situation. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify the decisions required for the solution to a specified problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify the condition associated with a given decision in a specified problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Explain the relationship between the decisions and conditions of a system. | Computational Thinking |
| Deduce logical rules for real-world situations. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify the inputs and outputs required in a solution. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify pre-planning in a suggested problem and solution. | Computational Thinking |
| Explain the need for pre-conditions when executing an algorithm. | Computational Thinking |
| Outline the pre- and post-conditions to a specified problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify exceptions that need to be considered in a specified problem solution. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify the parts of a solution that could be implemented concurrently. | Computational Thinking |
| Describe how concurrent processing can be used to solve a problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Evaluate the decision to use concurrent processing in solving a problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Identify examples of abstraction. | Computational Thinking |
| Explain why abstraction is required in the derivation of computational solutions for a specified situation. | Computational Thinking |
| Construct an abstraction from a specified situation. | Computational Thinking |
| Distinguish between a real-world entity and its abstraction. | Computational Thinking |
| Describe the characteristics of standard algorithms on linear arrays. | Computational Thinking |
| Outline the standard operations of collections. | Computational Thinking |
| Discuss an algorithm to solve a specific problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Analyse an algorithm presented as a flow chart. | Computational Thinking |
| Analyse an algorithm presented as pseudocode. | Computational Thinking |
| Construct pseudocode to represent an algorithm. | Computational Thinking |
| Suggest suitable algorithms to solve a specific problem. | Computational Thinking |
| Deduce the efficiency of an algorithm in the context of its use. | Computational Thinking |
| Determine the number of times a step in an algorithm will be performed for given input data. | Computational Thinking |
| State the fundamental operations of a computer. | Computational Thinking |
| Distinguish between fundamental and compound operations of a computer. | Computational Thinking |
| Explain the essential features of a computer language. | Computational Thinking |
| Explain the need for higher level languages. | Computational Thinking |
| Outline the need for a translation process from a higher level language to machine executable code. | Computational Thinking |
| Define the terms: variable, constant, operator, object. | Computational Thinking |
| Define common operators. | Computational Thinking |
| Analyse the use of variables, constants and operators in algorithms. | Computational Thinking |
| Construct algorithms using loops, branching. | Computational Thinking |
| Describe the characteristics and applications of a collection. | Computational Thinking |
| Construct algorithms using the access methods of a collection. | Computational Thinking |
| Discuss the need for sub-programmes and collections within programmed solutions. | Computational Thinking |
| Construct algorithms using pre- defined sub-programmes, one- dimensional arrays and/or collections. | Computational Thinking |
| Web science | |
| Distinguish between the internet and World Wide Web (web). | Web Science |
| Describe how the web is constantly evolving. | Web Science |
| Identify the characteristics of the following: HTTP, HTTPS, HTML, URL, XML, XSLT, CSS. | Web Science |
| Identify the characteristics of a uniform resource identifier (URI) URL. | Web Science |
| Describe the purpose of a URL. | Web Science |
| Describe how a domain name server functions. | Web Science |
| Identify the characteristics of the internet protocol (IP) transmission control protocol (TCP) file transfer protocol (FTP). | Web Science |
| Outline the different components of a web page. | Web Science |
| Explain the importance of protocols and standards on the web. | Web Science |
| Describe the different types of web page. | Web Science |
| Explain the differences between a static web page and a dynamic web page. | Web Science |
| Explain the functions of a browser. | Web Science |
| Evaluate the use of client-side scripting and server-side scripting in web pages. | Web Science |
| Describe how web pages can be connected to underlying data sources. | Web Science |
| Describe the function of the common gateway interface (CGI). | Web Science |
| Evaluate the structure of different types of web pages. | Web Science |
| Define the term search engine. | Web Science |
| Distinguish between the surface web and the deep web. | Web Science |
| Outline the principles of searching algorithms used by search engines. | Web Science |
| Describe how a web crawler functions. | Web Science |
| Discuss the relationship between data in a meta-tag and how it is accessed by a web crawler. | Web Science |
| Discuss the use of parallel web crawling. | Web Science |
| Outline the purpose of web-indexing in search engines. | Web Science |
| Suggest how web developers can create pages that appear more prominently in search engine results. | Web Science |
| Describe the different metrics used by search engines. | Web Science |
| Explain why the effectiveness of a search engine is determined by the assumptions made when developing it. | Web Science |
| Discuss the use of white hat and black hat search engine optimization. | Web Science |
| Outline future challenges to search engines as the web continues to grow. | Web Science |
| Define the terms: mobile computing, ubiquitous computing, peer-2-peer network, grid computing. | Web Science |
| Compare the major features of: mobile computing ubiquitous computing peer-2-peer network grid computing. | Web Science |
| Distinguish between interoperability and open standards. | Web Science |
| Describe the range of hardware used by distributed networks. | Web Science |
| Explain why distributed systems may act as a catalyst to a greater decentralization of the web. | Web Science |
| Distinguish between lossless and lossy compression. | Web Science |
| Evaluate the use of decompression software in the transfer of information. | Web Science |
| Discuss how the web has supported new methods of online interaction such as social networking. | Web Science |
| Describe how cloud computing is different from a client-server architecture. | Web Science |
| Discuss the effects of the use of cloud computing for specified organizations. | Web Science |
| Discuss the management of issues such as copyright and intellectual property on the web. | Web Science |
| Describe the interrelationship between privacy, identification and authentication. | Web Science |
| Describe the role of network architecture, protocols and standards in the future development of the web. | Web Science |
| Explain why the web may be creating unregulated monopolies. | Web Science |
| Discuss the effects of a decentralized and democratic web. | Web Science |