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JESUIT VIRTUAL LEARNING ACADEMY
Scranton Prep is a member of the Jesuit Virtual Learning Academy which offers on-line courses to students in Jesuit schools throughout the country. Scranton Prep offers a limited number of JVLA courses to interested, qualified seniors. JVLA courses are taught by educators from Jesuit schools. This year students will take year-long courses in Beginning Mandarin, A.P. Music Theory, and A.P. Psychology. Several seniors will also be taking semester-long courses in Visual Basic Programming and Computer Gaming Programming.
A.P. COMPUTER SCIENCE
Prerequisites: Students should have successfully completed one course in a programming language such as C, C++, Visual Basic .Net, or Java. Moreover, students should know how to edit, compile, and run a program.
This course is a college level introduction to object-oriented programming in Java. Students will focus on a problem solving approach designed to focus attention on programming algorithms and data structures. Students will be fluent in the syntax and logic structures of the Java programming language as well as familiar with the Java API. Students will attempt difficult programming challenges, reflect on these exercises, and share their discoveries with their peers. All students will take the A.P. exam in May.
A.P. MUSIC THEORY
This course is designed for students with a serious interest in music and is especially recommended for those considering a career in music. Topics to be studied include scales, intervals, key signatures, chords, rhythmic notation, and four-voice realization of figured bass symbols, sight-singing, and melodic dictation. There will be periodic quizzes, part-writing assignments, and listening assignments. Students who have completed this course will have a thorough understanding of the elements of music, improved listening skills All Student will take the A.P. exam in May.
A.P. PSYCHOLOGY
This AP course introduces the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Included is a consideration of the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. Students also learn about the ethics and methods psychologists use in their science and practice.
All student will take the A.P. exam in May.
CHINESE IA: BEGINNING MANDARIN
This course combines the study of the Chinese language with an introduction to Chinese culture. Students will gain practical experience in speaking Mandarin with proper pronunciation using the pinyin system to acquire basic conversational skills. Students will learn basic vocabulary and sentence patterns used in daily life and social interaction. Culture notes will be given along with speaking practice necessary for interpersonal communication. In addition, a certain amount of Chinese written characters are studied with a fun approach. Teacher and students will communicate using Gong, a podcasting software.
VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING
This is a traditional programming course for Visual Basic. The content of the course is categorized into seven modules: 1. Introduction to Programming and Visual Basic, 2. Creating Applications with Visual Basic, 3. Input, Variables, Constants and Calculations, 4. Making Decisions, 5. Loops, 6. General Procedures and Functions, 7. Lists, Standard Modules, Arrays and Files.
COMPUTER GAMING PROGRAMMING
This course will cover the principles of game design, styles/genres of computer games, techniques for game software engineering, and information about the computer game industry. This course discusses the process of game development. Emphasis will be on pragmatic advice for game designers, together with formal techniques for game balance and analysis. Students will design and play-test a game as a course project. Group work is emphasized, especially the importance of collaboration between technical and artistic efforts. Students are expected to participate in game development using appropriate game development tools.
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