Grade 01: Computing

In this unit, 'Parts of a computer', you learn to name the screen, keyboard, mouse and their jobs. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• See it: watch or try the skill in 'Parts of a computer' on a teacher screen or a safe device.
• Name the parts: write the key words and what each part does.
• Use it: name the screen, keyboard, mouse and their jobs. Save your work in a named file or folder.
• Test and fix: run it, find one fault, correct it, and note what you changed.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Look at the screen. The screen is the part that shows pictures, words and games. It works like a window into the computer. Point to it. Keep your fingers off the glass, because fingerprints make it hard to see, and keep drinks far away from it.
2. Step 2, Meet the keyboard. The keyboard has keys for letters, numbers and a long space bar. There are 26 letter keys, one for each letter of the alphabet. We use the keyboard to type. Find the keys c, a and t and press them one at a time, gently, to make the word cat.
3. Step 3, Hold the mouse. The mouse sits on the table and slides to move the little arrow, called the pointer, on the screen. A mouse has two buttons. Press the left button once, called a click, to choose something. Slide slowly, and stop on a picture before you click.
4. Step 4, Match each part to its job. Screen: we see. Keyboard: we type letters and numbers. Mouse: we point and click. Say the pairs aloud: the screen shows, the keyboard types, the mouse clicks. Point to each part on a real computer or a picture as you say it.
5. Step 5, Use the parts together. Sit with feet on the floor and clean hands. Look at the screen, slide the mouse so the pointer lands on a star picture, click once, then use the keyboard to type your first name. Each part did its own job, one after another.
6. Step 6, Your turn: which part do you use to type your name, which to see a picture, and which to click a button? Answer: the keyboard to type your name, the screen to see a picture, and the mouse to click a button.

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Name the screen, keyboard, mouse and their jobs: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

In this unit, 'Mouse and keyboard skills', you learn to click, drag and type letters and my name. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• See it: watch or try the skill in 'Mouse and keyboard skills' on a teacher screen or a safe device.
• Name the parts: write the key words and what each part does.
• Use it: click, drag and type letters and my name. Save your work in a named file or folder.
• Test and fix: run it, find one fault, correct it, and note what you changed.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Sit and set up: Amina sits with both feet on the floor, the screen at eye level, and one hand on the mouse. She finds the pointer arrow on the screen and moves the mouse slowly until the arrow touches the big green square.
2. Step 2, Click: With the arrow on the green square, Amina presses the left button once and lets go. The square turns yellow. One quick press is a click. She says 'click' aloud each time to remember the single press.
3. Step 3, Drag: Amina puts the arrow on a red ball, holds the left button down, slides the mouse to the basket on the right, then lets go. The ball drops into the basket. Hold, move, release is called dragging.
4. Step 4, Find letters: Her teacher shows a box and the letters A, M, I, N. Amina looks at the keyboard, finds the A key on the left side of the middle row, and presses it once. An 'a' appears in the box.
5. Step 5, Type the name: She holds the Shift key with her little finger while pressing A to make a capital, so the first letter is right. Next come m, i, n, a. The screen shows Amina, five letters.
6. Step 6, Check and fix: She reads the screen letter by letter, touching each one with the pointer: A-m-i-n-a. All five match. If a letter were wrong she would press Backspace once to remove the last letter and type again.
7. Your turn: Your name is Omar. Click the blue button, drag a star into a box, then type your name with a capital O. Model answer: O comes from Shift plus the O key, then m, a, r. The screen shows Omar, four letters, and the star sits inside the box.

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Click, drag and type letters and my name: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

In this unit, 'Drawing on a computer', you learn to make a simple picture with a drawing tool. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• See it: watch or try the skill in 'Drawing on a computer' on a teacher screen or a safe device.
• Name the parts: write the key words and what each part does.
• Use it: make a simple picture with a drawing tool. Save your work in a named file or folder.
• Test and fix: run it, find one fault, correct it, and note what you changed.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Open the tool: The learner clicks the drawing tool icon, a paintbrush on the desktop. A white page opens with a row of colour squares at the top and a pencil, a brush and an eraser on the left side.
2. Step 2, Pick a colour and tool: She clicks the yellow square, then the brush. The pointer changes to a small dot. Yellow is now the colour she will draw with, so everything she paints from here will be yellow.
3. Step 3, Draw the sun: Holding the left button down, the learner moves the mouse in a slow circle in the top corner. When the circle joins up she lets go. A yellow round sun appears. She adds five short lines around it for rays.
4. Step 4, Change colour for the house: She clicks the red square and draws a square box in the middle of the page for the house wall. Then she clicks brown and draws a triangle on top for the roof, making a simple house.
5. Step 5, Fix a mistake: One ray crossed the roof. The learner clicks the eraser tool, rubs over only that crossing line, and the white page shows again. She switches back to the yellow brush and draws the ray shorter.
6. Step 6, Save: The learner clicks the save button, types the name 'my house' and presses Enter. The tool shows 'my house' at the top. She now has a picture with a sun, a house and a roof that she can open tomorrow.
7. Your turn: Draw a tree with a brown trunk and a green top, then erase one mistake and save it as 'tree'. Model answer: pick brown and draw a thin tall rectangle, pick green and draw a round top, use the eraser on any stray mark, then save with the name tree.

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Build a simple picture with a drawing tool: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

In this unit, 'Staying safe with screens', you learn to follow simple rules for screen time and sharing. Lessons are short and playful, with objects, pictures and talk. You see it, say it, then do it alone.

• See it: watch or try the skill in 'Staying safe with screens' on a teacher screen or a safe device.
• Name the parts: write the key words and what each part does.
• Use it: follow simple rules for screen time and sharing. Save your work in a named file or folder.
• Test and fix: run it, find one fault, correct it, and note what you changed.

Step by step.

1. Step 1, Ask first. Screens are fun, but eyes and bodies need a rest. Before you use a tablet or computer, ask a grown-up. Your family decides how long, for example one hour after school. A kitchen timer helps you stop when it rings, with no arguing.
2. Step 2, Take screen breaks. After a short time, look away from the screen at something far away, like a tree outside, for 20 seconds. Sit with your back straight and the screen about an arm's length away. Stand up, stretch your arms up high and drink some water.
3. Step 3, Know what stays private. Never type or say your full name, home address, phone number, school name or passwords to anyone online. Photos of your house or school uniform tell people where you are. Before you share anything, show a grown-up first and ask if it is safe.
4. Step 4, Use the Stop, Ask, Tell rule. If a picture is scary or a message is unkind, stop looking and close the screen or turn it off. Ask a grown-up what to do. Tell a trusted grown-up, such as a parent or teacher, straight away. You will never be in trouble for telling.
5. Step 5, Balance the day. Plan 1 hour of screen time, then play outside, read a book, help at home and sleep. In one week one hour a day is 7 hours of screen time. Draw a picture of your day with the screen as only one small part of it.
6. Step 6, Your turn: a game asks, What is your home address? What do you do? Answer: do not type it, stop and ask a grown-up, because your address is private. Tell the grown-up about the question.

Activity. About 20 to 30 minutes of class work, then one short practice task for home. Keep evidence: one page in your learning book.

Standard to meet. Follow simple rules for screen time and sharing: at least 4 of 5 attempts correct, said or written, with one real example from home or school.

On the slide: L1 Basic · What a computer does

Notes: Name the four jobs of a computer: input, process, output and storage. Notes: use a washing machine or a phone and label each job with a sticky note; no screens are needed. Learners say which part is the input and which is the output.

This course: Grade 01 Computing is at this level. Its units include Parts of a computer; Mouse and keyboard skills; Drawing on a computer; Staying safe with screens.

On the slide: L2 Awareness · Steps and algorithms

Notes: Describe an algorithm as ordered steps and put a set of steps in the right order. Notes: cut up the steps for making a sandwich and mix them; learners order them and find what breaks if two swap. Work unplugged. Safe knife use is for an adult only.

On the slide: L3 Foundation · Code loops and variables

Notes: Write a short program that uses a variable and a loop to give a predicted output. Notes: for i in range(1,6), print the square of i. The output is 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 and their total is 55. Learners predict the output first, then run and compare. Take breaks to rest eyes.

On the slide: L4 Practitioner · Binary and image size

Notes: Apply binary and storage sums to convert numbers and estimate file size. Notes: 45 in binary is 101101, since 32 plus 8 plus 4 plus 1 is 45. A raw picture of 800 by 600 pixels at 24 bits needs 1,440,000 bytes. Learners check by working back from binary to decimal.

On the slide: L5 Specialist · Network transfer and security

Notes: Analyse how data moves over a network and compare protections against common threats. Notes: a 50 MB file is 400 megabits; at 20 megabits per second the transfer takes 20 s. Learners work out the time on a slower link and list two safe habits for passwords and updates.

On the slide: L6 Advanced · Complexity and search

Notes: Apply Big O reasoning to compare linear and binary search. Notes: a sorted list of 1,000,000 items needs at most 20 comparisons by binary search, since 2 to the 20 is 1,048,576, instead of up to a million for linear search. Learners trace a search on 16 numbers by hand.

On the slide: L7 Super expert · Secure system design

Notes: Evaluate a small system for security risk and design controls. Notes: a 12-character password from 62 symbols holds about 71.5 bits of entropy, since 12 times log2 of 62 is 71.45. Learners rank threats, choose controls, and test only on systems they own or have written permission to test.