Level 3 Digital Technologies 91636 44) Specific Assessment Guides Complexity and Tractability: 1–4 Formal Languages: 5–8 Graphics and Visual Computing: 9–12 Intelligent Systems: 13–16 Network Communication Protocols: 17–20 Software

Level 3 Digital Technologies 91636 (3.44) Specific Assessment Guide (Graphics and Visual Computing)

Title Demonstrate understanding of areas of computer science
Credits 4

Teacher introduction

Technology assessment guides have been produced to help teachers develop their own specific assessment guides. Examples of specific assessment guides, developed from the common assessment guide for each standard, have been produced as part of the external assessment resources for level 3 Technology.

The specific assessment guides also show a variety of ways (ie case study, research, practice) to produce external assessment material. The material in the candidate exemplars for each standard reflects the content and context of the specific assessment guides.

Teachers can adapt a common assessment guide and / or a specific assessment guide to suit the specific context of their course of teaching.

Candidate introduction

You will produce a report that demonstrates understanding of areas of computer science. To complete the report you will need to report on at least two of the Areas of Computer Science from explanatory note 3 in the standard.

This specific assessment guide is one of six. Each one of the specific assessment guides relate to one of the six Areas of Computer Science.

Candidate guidance for producing the report

There are some prompts and activities below that will assist you to write the part of your report on graphics and visual computing. They will help you to produce a report that demonstrates the understanding expected in this assessment. The prompts also define the levels of description, explanation, and discussion that are expected at each grade.

To demonstrate understanding of areas of computer science at the Achieved level you will need to:

• 
  describe key problems that are addressed in selected areas of computer science
  
• 
  describe examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas.
  

To demonstrate in-depth understanding of areas of computer science at the Merit level you will need to:

• 
  explain how key algorithms or techniques are applied in selected areas
  
• 
  explain examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas.
  

To demonstrate comprehensive understanding of areas of computer science at the Excellence level you will need to:

• 
  discuss examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas
  
• 
  evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms, techniques, or applications from selected areas.
  

Possible Activities

The activities below are activities which generate specific content that you can use to develop your report. For example, if you were to Show how lines and circles are drawn using Bresenham’s algorithm (see activity 1 below) you could generate information related to several parts of the report.

10. 
    Show how lines and circles are drawn using Bresenham’s algorithm (see the ‘Drawing lines with pixels’ activity at http://csunplugged.org).
    
11. 
    Define and render a scene using provided ray-tracing software, eg POV-Ray (http://library.thinkquest.org/3285/).
    
12. 
    Evaluate the robustness of bar code or QR code reading software with different levels of distortion in the image.
    
13. 
    Evaluate the effectiveness of facial recognition in free software such as Google’s Picasa.
    
14. 
    Evaluate the Canny edge detection algorithm on your own images using the online processor at http://matlabserver.cs.rug.nl/.
    
15. 
    Give examples of simple template matching on characters in a scanned document.
    
16. 
    Evaluate the effectiveness of software for image stitching.
    
17. 
    Perform scene modelling using images (image-based rendering, used in arcade games).
    
18. 
    Explore modelling surfaces using splines, surfaces of revolution, and simple methods to generate terrain models.
    
19. 
    Explore computational geometry methods (such as convex hulls and closest pair of points).
    
20. 
    Explore 3D volume visualisation (generating a 3D view from slices), such as in MRI and HRCT.
    

Essential documents

The achievement standard governing this specific assessment guide can be found at
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/specifications/2013/level3/91636-spc-2013.pdf

The assessment specifications for the Digital Technologies achievement standard can be found at

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/achievements/2013/as91636.pdf

Definitions

The following are concepts, algorithms, techniques, applications, and problems that students at level 3 are likely to be able to work with; it is not a list of all the key ideas in the area.

Algorithms: Bresenham’s algorithm (line and circle drawing), colour space conversion, line anti-aliasing, Bézier and B-spline curves, painter’s algorithm, Z-buffer, sharpening filter, edge detection (Canny, Sobel), template matching, morphological functions.

Techniques: ray tracing, texture mapping, shading, anti-aliasing, volume rendering, polygonisation, constructive solid geometry, 3D modelling, hidden object removal, face recognition, object recognition.

Applications: drawing software, animation, image enhancement, barcode readers, face recognition, image stitching, collision avoidance, biometric authentication, surveillance, optical character recognition, medical imaging.

Graphics and visual computing is about using computers to create images and animations based on a description of a scene or collected data (computer graphics and visualisation), and the reverse process of processing images and recognising elements in an image (computer vision). Often the term ‘visual computing’ encompasses computer graphics, so the term ‘graphics’ isn’t strictly required in the name of this area; also note that in this context it does not refer to the use of ‘visual programming languages’ or ‘visual programming environments’ eg Visual Studio. The creation of images could be as simple as a 2D drawing program, or as advanced as 3D systems for entertainment or to help visualise a data set. Computer vision is used to capture information from the real world or to recognise situations such as a potential vehicle collision. These topics can be explored by evaluating the effectiveness of existing software for these purposes, and exploring algorithms and techniques for rendering images and recognising the contents of an image. This topic is distinct from the standards that explore the use of multimedia software as it explores the details of how that software works.

Further information

Useful links:

• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_graphics
  
• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_vision
  
• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bresenham’s_line_algorithm
  
• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_trace
  
• 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mri
  
• 
  http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/mukundan/cogr/applcogr.html
  
• 
  http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/mukundan/covn/applcovn.html
  
• 
  http://www.povray.org/resources/links/3D_Tutorials/POV-Ray_Tutorials/
  

Further information can be found at http://www.techlink.org.nz.

Exemplars

Please read the exemplars. You can model your work on these exemplars but you may not copy the material from the exemplars. Your report must be the product of your own efforts.

Schedule

Assessment Schedule AS Digital Technologies 91636 (3.44) Demonstrate understanding of areas of computer science
Final grades will be decided using professional judgement based on a holistic examination of the evidence provided against the criteria.
Issues from the Specifications Authentic candidate submissions will be recognisable because of specific contexts associated with the work. This does not imply that submissions will arise only from the candidate’s practice. However, where the candidate’s practice does not provide the immediate source of a specific context, one would expect to see that several sources of information relating to materials had been applied within a specific context. In both cases, the marker will be able to detect the candidate’s voice. In situations where information does not have some aspect of student voice, it is difficult to establish whether the candidate has actually demonstrated understanding or simply identified information. Candidates who have simply identified information by reproducing information from sources without making use of that information have not demonstrated understanding. Where a candidate has provided a brief answer, the answer should not be penalised because of length. Candidate work in excess of 14 pages should not be marked. Where work is illegible, it cannot be marked. Digital submissions that cannot be read cannot be marked.
Achievement	Achievement with Merit	Achievement with Excellence
Demonstrating understanding of areas of computer science involves:	Demonstrating in-depth understanding of areas of computer science involves:	Demonstrating comprehensive understanding of areas of computer science involves:
describing key problems that are addressed in selected areas of computer science describing examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from the.se areas.	explaining how key algorithms or techniques are applied in selected areas explaining examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas.	discussing examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas evaluating the effectiveness of algorithms, techniques, or applications from selected areas.

Level 3 Digital Technologies 91636 (3.44) Specific Assessment Guide (Intelligent Systems)

Title Demonstrate understanding of areas of computer science
Credits 4

Teacher introduction

Technology assessment guides have been produced to help teachers develop their own specific assessment guides. Examples of specific assessment guides, developed from the common assessment guide for each standard, have been produced as part of the external assessment resources for level 3 Technology.

The specific assessment guides also show a variety of ways (ie case study, research, practice) to produce external assessment material. The material in the candidate exemplars for each standard reflects the content and context of the specific assessment guides.

Teachers can adapt a common assessment guide and / or a specific assessment guide to suit the specific context of their course of teaching.

Candidate introduction

You will produce a report that demonstrates understanding of areas of computer science. To complete the report you will need to report on at least two of the Areas of Computer Science from explanatory note 3 in the standard.

This specific assessment guide is one of six. Each one of the specific assessment guides relate to one of the six Areas of Computer Science.

Candidate guidance for producing the report

There are some prompts and activities below that will assist you to write the part of your report on intelligent systems. They will help you to produce a report that demonstrates the understanding expected in this assessment. The prompts also define the levels of description, explanation, and discussion that are expected at each grade.

To demonstrate understanding of areas of computer science at the Achieved level you will need to:

• 
  describe key problems that are addressed in selected areas of computer science
  
• 
  describe examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas.
  

To demonstrate in-depth understanding of areas of computer science at the Merit level you will need to:

• 
  explain how key algorithms or techniques are applied in selected areas
  
• 
  explain examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas.
  

To demonstrate comprehensive understanding of areas of computer science at the Excellence level you will need to:

• 
  discuss examples of practical applications of selected areas to demonstrate the use of key algorithms and/or techniques from these areas
  
• 
  evaluate the effectiveness of algorithms, techniques, or applications from selected areas.
  

Possible Activities

The activities below are activities which generate specific content that you can use to develop your report. For example, if you were to Investigate the problem of developing a self-driving car (see activity 7 below) you could generate information related to several parts of the report.

1. 
   Explore algorithms for playing simple board games such as noughts and crosses or checkers.
   
2. 
   Develop a decision tree for a diagnosis or advice system.
   
3. 
   Evaluate an online chatbot.
   
4. 
   Explore an online automatic translation system, such as Google’s statistical translator.
   
5. 
   Do the CS Inside predictive text learning exercise (http://csi.dcs.gla.ac.uk/workshop-view.php?workshopID=7).
   
6. 
   Collect statistical data and use a simple machine learning system to find patterns in it.
   
7. 
   Investigate the problem of developing a self-driving car (http://www.nsf.gov/cise/csbytes/newsletter/vol1i3.html).
   
8. 
   Investigate how an AI system could win the Jeopardy game (http://www.nsf.gov/cise/csbytes/newsletter/vol1i10.html).
   
9. 
   Experiment with an artificial life simulator.
   
10. 
    Experiment with training a simple artificial neural net.
    

Essential documents

The achievement standard governing this specific assessment guide can be found at
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/specifications/2013/level3/91636-spc-2013.pdf

The assessment specifications for the Digital Technologies achievement standard can be found at

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/achievements/2013/as91636.pdf

Definitions

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