CS 106
Computing Fundamentals II
Chapter 2
“Course Overview”
Herbert G. Mayer, PSU CS
status 6/24/2013
Initial content copied verbatim from
CS 106 material developed by
CS professors: Cynthia Brown & Robert Martin
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Syllabus
 Course Goals
 Enhancing your Skill Set
 We Shall Not Learn
 Types of Learning
 Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Example: Grammar
 Theory and Application
 Excel versions
 Topics We’ll Cover
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Course Goals
• Learn general problem-solving skills and methods,
and apply them to a process for developing computer
and spreadsheet applications
• Be able to create and evaluate logical expressions,
and use them to direct the behavior of spreadsheets
and programs
• Understand the concepts of sequential, selective,
modular, and repetitive task processing, and be able
to apply them to build applications in Excel and
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
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Enhancing Your Skill Set
• Problem solving skills: learn how to organize yourself
to develop a process to accomplish a goal
• Excel skills: learn how to use some of the advanced
features of Excel to avoid repetitive tasks and build
awesome spreadsheets
• Logic skills: useful in Excel, in working with
databases, in programming, and other situations
• Programming skills: learn the fundamentals of
programming; if nothing else, be able to
communicate with programmers and understand their
issues
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We Shall Not Learn
• Everything about Excel. There is way, way too much.
But you will learn enough that you can figure out
most things on your own
• Everything about programming. Programming is a
whole world in itself. But you will learn enough to go
on to CS 162 and see if you want to become an expert
programmer
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Types of Learning
• When we talk about “learning”, there are different
things we could mean
• One Benjamin Bloom was in charge of defining a
classification of types of learning, called “Bloom’s
taxonomy”
• There are six major categories, each dependent on
the previous one
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Bloom’s Taxonomy (1)
Knowledge: Recalling data or information


Examples: Recite a policy. Quote prices from memory to a customer.
Knows the safety rules.
Key Words: defines, describes, identifies, knows, labels, lists, matches,
names, outlines, recalls, recognizes, reproduces, selects, states.
Comprehension: Understand the meaning,
translation, interpolation, and interpretation
of instructions and problems. State a
problem in one's own words.


Examples: Rewrites the principles of test writing. Explain in one’s own
words the steps for performing a complex task. Translates an equation
into a computer spreadsheet.
Key Words: comprehends, converts, defends, distinguishes, estimates,
explains, extends, generalizes, gives examples, infers, interprets,
paraphrases, predicts, rewrites, summarizes, translates.
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Bloom’s taxonomy (2)
Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an
abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel
situations in the work place.


Examples: Use a manual to calculate an employee’s vacation time. Apply
laws of statistics to evaluate the reliability of a written test.
Key Words: applies, changes, computes, constructs, demonstrates,
discovers, manipulates, modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces,
relates, shows, solves, uses.
Analysis: Separates material or concepts into component parts so that its
organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between
facts and inferences.


Examples: Troubleshoot a piece of equipment by using logical deduction.
Recognize logical fallacies in reasoning. Gathers information from a
department and selects the required tasks for training.
Key Words: analyzes, breaks down, compares, contrasts, diagrams,
deconstructs, differentiates, discriminates, distinguishes, identifies,
illustrates, infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates.
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Bloom’s taxonomy (3)
Synthesis: Builds a structure or pattern from
diverse elements. Assembles parts to form a
whole, with emphasis on creating a new
meaning or structure.


Examples: Write a company operations or process manual. Design a machine to perform
a specific task. Integrates training from several sources to solve a problem. Revises and
process to improve the outcome.
Key Words: categorizes, combines, compiles, composes, creates, devises, designs,
explains, generates, modifies, organizes, plans, rearranges, reconstructs, relates,
reorganizes, revises, rewrites, summarizes, tells, writes.
Evaluation: Make judgments about the value of
ideas or materials.


Examples: Select the most effective solution. Hire the most qualified candidate. Explain
and justify a new budget.
Key Words: appraises, compares, concludes, contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends,
describes, discriminates, evaluates, explains, interprets, justifies, relates, summarizes,
supports.
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Bloom’s Taxonomy Categories
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
To actually use knowledge, you must reach at least
the Application stage
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Example: Grammar
• Knowledge: I am able to recite some grammar rules,
but when I actually write something, it might still be
ungrammatical
• Comprehension: I can explain the rules of grammar in
my own words
• Application: I can use the rules of grammar to write
grammatically
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How do we get to the Application
level of learning?
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Learning to Solve Problems is Akin
to Learning to Ride a Bicycle
• You can read all you want about how to ride a bike
• You can watch someone demonstrate how to do it
• But you have to actually get on the bike to learn how
to ride it!
• Likewise, to learn to design processes, you have to
actually try it
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Theory and Application
•
This very course is divided into modules
•
In each module, you will study some theory
•
There will typically be a set of exercises to help you
understand and absorb the theory
•
Then, you will have a project to work on where you apply
the theory
•
The information is progressive and cumulative: don’t try to
skip ahead
•
It takes time to absorb and internalize the ideas, so if you
take this course for credit, keep up with the schedule
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Excel Versions
• You’ll need a copy of Excel 2010 (for Windows) or
Excel 2011 (for Mac). You can get by with Excel 2007
for Windows.
• We’ll make an effort to have everything compatible
with both platforms. Where there are differences, we’ll
point them out. Some materials will be presented for
one platform only, where the differences are trivial or
obvious.
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Topics We’ll Cover
General problem solving; intro to Excel
Naming and scope
Logic and conditionals
Procedures and functions
Repetition and loops
Files
Arrays
Algorithms
Some selected Excel topics
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