Kalamazoo College Summer Workshops for High School Teachers

CD Table of Contents

The materials on this CD, and others, can be found on the Kalamazoo College web site for high school teachers: http://max.cs.kzoo.edu/AP/.

AP Documents

• AP Computer Science Course Description

Presentations

• Going from C++ to Java, including Tower of Hanoi Comparison and Summary of Differences
• AP CS Java Subset (language constructs that may appear on the AP exam)
• Arrays vs. ArrayList
• A Review of Traversal Patterns (for traversing arrays, array lists, and other collection classes)
• Introduction to the Marine Biology Simulation Case Study, including a Comparison of the C++ and Java Simulation classes (The CD also contains variations on this presentation: one has exercises integrated into the presentation, the other is a review of the MBS program that we use at the beginning of the data structures class.)
• Object-Oriented Design
• Interfaces and Inheritance
• Terminology Quiz

Introduction to Programming in Java (CS 1 / AP CS A)

Labs and Assignments

• Aquarium Lab Series: series of labs that deal with constructing objects, invoking methods, basic flow control constructs, implementing classes
• TalkingRobot: lab and follow-up exercise that practice if statements and using the Random class
• Histogram: practice loops and using the Random class, with a follow-up exercise using an array of integers (this project uses a BoundedEnv object for plotting the histogram, although students don't have to be aware of that)
• Environment Plotter: write methods that navigate a two-dimensional grid data structure (a BoundedEnv object), plotting pictures by placing colored blocks in the grid (graphics is all behind the scenes)
• Marine Biology Simulation: see below
• Object-Oriented Design Specifications: a small set of problem specifications for which students develop object-oriented designs.  Since novice programmers have little experience from which to draw, the problems are all similar to the MBS case study (or the Aquarium Lab Series) in their overall design. 
• If you decide to cover Applets in your course, the Rectangle lab provides a very basic introduction to applets. The BalloonRace assignment, written in terms of applets, provides a follow-up to the Object-Oriented Design assignment. 
• If you decide to cover some basic GUI design in your course using Java Swing, the MouseInAMaze and ObstacleCourse assignments provide follow-ups to the MBS case study and/or the Object-Oriented Design assignment.

Teachers' Solutions (For Teachers Only!)

• Solutions to most of the projects listed above

AP^® Marine Biology Simulation Case Study

• JavaMBS.zip: a copy of the official download file from the College Board web site (www.collegeboard.com).
• JavaMBS: an expanded version of the zip file, with the following sub-folders.  The index.html file describes the contents of these folders and how to get starting using the case study.
  • Code
  • DataFiles
  • Documentation
  • ExecutionInformation
  • Narrative
• BlueJ_Code: a version of the MBS Code folder customized for BlueJ (same case study code, but placed in several directories as shown below to create separate projects for the simple demo programs, dynamic population, etc.) -- see www.bluej.org to get BlueJ itself.
  • SimpleMBSDemo1
  • SimpleMBSDemo2
  • Chaps1and2MBSGUI
  • Chapter3
  • Chapters4and5
• BlueJ_Code.zip: a compressed version of the folders listed above for installing on other machines
• Object Diagrams: diagrams illustrating interactions among objects in the case study
• Role Playing Scripts: our version of the role-playing exercises developed by Steven Andrianoff and David Levine of St. Bonaventure University that can be used in preparation for Chapters 2 and 4; for the real scripts, visit their web site: web.sbu.edu/cs/dlevine/RolePlay/roleplay.html.

MBS Assignments

• Mini-Lab on Chapter 1
• Minnow: introduces students to a simplified version of the MBS Fish class.  In this project students enhance the way minnows move in their environment, going from simple forward movement to the random movement exhibited by fish in the MBS Fish class.
• Assignment based on Chapters 2 and 3
• Lab on Chapter 4: Experimenting with, and Extending, the DarterFish Class
• Assignment based on Chapter 4: students implement Fish subclasses.  Two of the subclasses are FastFish and ForwardFish.

Teachers' Solutions (For Teachers Only!)

• Teacher's Manual: a copy of the official file from the College Board web site
• Solutions to several of the projects listed above
• Implementations of several of the Environment classes described in exercises at the end of Chapter 5 (appropriate for a Data Structures class).

Data Structures in Java (CS 2/ AP CS AB)

Labs and Assignments

• Iterators: Students implement iterators for a number of different traversals and partial-traversals of a two-dimensional BoundedEnv data structure.  (This project is a variation on the EnvPlotter project, and, like it, was inspired by the Dots program developed by R. Rasala of Northeastern University.)
• Linked Lists: Students write a program that uses an iterator through a circular linked list (Bad News Bearers), followed by a set of exercises that explore the implementation of linked lists.
• Queues: a lab and follow-up program (Car Wash) that uses the AP Queue interface.
• Stacks: some assignment ideas and a source file for the AP Stack interface.
• Recursion - NQueens: Students implement a solution to the classic N Queens problem, using a recursive backtracking algorithm and a BoundedEnv object as the N x N board.
• Trees: Labs in which students implement a number of methods that traverse a binary tree and a binary search tree.

Teachers' Solutions (For Teachers Only!)

• A description of the Data Structures course taught at Kalamazoo College (corresponds to AP CS AB), including descriptions of the lab and programming assignments and a link to more detailed information.
• Solutions to several of the projects listed above.

Generic Environment Package

• Jar Files, Documentation, and Examples for the Generic Environment Graphical User Interface [Alpha version - still under development!] (for writing programs that use Environment classes, most frequently BoundedEnv, in other contexts)

*AP and Advanced Placement are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board, which has not endorsed this CD.
Last modified on 7/5/03 by Alyce Brady.