Day 6: Development Processes

Learning Objectives

• CRD-2.E: Develop a program using a development process.

Essential Questions

• What are the different approaches to program development?
• How do iterative and incremental development processes improve programs?

Materials Needed

• Presentation slides on development processes
• Flowchart templates and tools
• Case studies of different development approaches
• Sticky notes for group activity
• Exit ticket templates

Vocabulary

• Development process
• Waterfall model
• Iterative development
• Incremental development
• Agile methodology
• Prototype

Procedure (50 minutes)

Opening (8 minutes)

1. Review Week 1 (3 minutes)

   • Briefly review key concepts from Week 1
   • Transition to Week 2 focus on program design and development

2. Activating Prior Knowledge (5 minutes)

   • Think-Pair-Share: "What steps would you take to develop a new program?"
   • Create a class list of potential development steps

Main Activities (32 minutes)

3. Lecture: Different Development Processes (12 minutes)

   • Explain ordered/linear development (waterfall model):
     • Requirements → Design → Implementation → Testing → Deployment
     • Advantages and disadvantages
   • Explain exploratory development:
     • Experimentation and discovery
     • Rapid prototyping
     • Advantages and disadvantages
   • Explain iterative development:
     • Repeated cycles of development
     • Continuous improvement
     • Advantages and disadvantages
   • Explain incremental development:
     • Building functionality in small pieces
     • Advantages and disadvantages

4. Discussion: Phases of Development (8 minutes)

   • Investigate: Understanding the problem and requirements
   • Design: Planning the solution approach
   • Prototype: Creating initial versions
   • Test: Verifying functionality and finding errors
   • Refine: Improving based on testing and feedback
   • For each phase, discuss key activities and deliverables

5. Group Activity: Compare Development Approaches (12 minutes)

   • Divide class into small groups (3-4 students)
   • Assign each group a scenario (e.g., mobile game, business application, social media feature)
   • Groups create two flowcharts showing:
     • How they would develop the program using a waterfall approach
     • How they would develop the program using an iterative approach
   • Groups identify advantages of each approach for their scenario
   • Groups share their flowcharts and conclusions

Closing (10 minutes)

6. Individual Activity: Create Development Flowchart (7 minutes)

   • Students create a flowchart showing an iterative development process for a simple app of their choice
   • Flowchart must include multiple iterations and specific activities in each phase

7. Preview Next Lesson (3 minutes)

   • Explain that next class will focus on program investigation and requirements
   • Ask students to think about how developers determine what users need

Assessment

• Formative: Group activity participation and quality of comparative analysis
• Individual Flowchart: Accuracy and completeness of iterative development process

Differentiation

For Advanced Students

• Research and incorporate additional development methodologies (e.g., Scrum, XP)
• Create more complex development scenarios with multiple stakeholders

For Struggling Students

• Provide partially completed flowchart templates
• Offer simplified scenarios with clear development steps

Homework/Extension

• Research a real-world software project and identify its development methodology
• Explain how the chosen methodology affected the project's outcome
• Consider how an alternative methodology might have changed the result

Teacher Notes

• Emphasize that different development approaches are appropriate for different situations
• Connect development processes to collaboration concepts from Week 1
• Use real-world examples of successful and failed development projects
• Highlight that the AP exam may ask about different development approaches