Hello Sheila!
Replying to a message of Sheila King to Kathleen Weaver:
 SK> I flipped through the 1992 Computer Science "A" exam after reading
 SK> this message from you a few nights ago, and I didn't really see a
 SK> heavy emphasis on math.
Well, personally, I think the students are going to have to understand how 
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division work, extremely well.  I 
envision them having to multiply, divide, or some other routine.
 SK> Of course, the Large Integer Case Study will require a good
 SK> understanding of math, but really only some basic concepts, I think. I
 SK> wish our regular math students were exposed to some of this stuff at
 SK> an earlier age...like 9th grade or so. I bet they'd have a better
 SK> understanding of operations in general.
 KW>> I tried introducing graphpics last year, early.  Many of my students
 KW>> went of on that tangent instead of being focused on things required
 KW>> for the test.
 SK> What type of graphics did you do? I can't imagine my kids getting that
 SK> "wowed" about turtle graphics.
Certainly wasn't turtle graphics.  No, they were drawing lines, circles, etc.
 SK> I will be introducing Data Abstraction early with my Turtle Unit.
 SK> Well, maybe that's not so accurate. All of the parameters passed to
 SK> the turtle are pretty much integers. Hmm.
Yeah, and you really don't know what type of data you are passing to long 
int.  Big difference.  In fact, you might have some problems if you focus on 
passing one type of parameter too much.
 SK> I did do some programming with the Large Integer Case Study this past
 SK> week at the workshop. It really DOES require an understanding of
 SK> abstract data types. I can just see students already trying to add
 SK> two variables of type LongInt with the addition operator. ;-)
Yep.
 SK> BTW, I learned this week that the AP Board will be using the Long
 SK> Integer Case study for the next three years. It will last one year
 SK> into the C++ conversion. How do you feel about that? Do you already
 SK> know C++?
I know enough C++ to realize that the folks who are panicking over this are 
probably teaching the wrong subject.  It will definately seperate the wheat 
from the chaff.
Kathleen
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