The City School

Academic Year 2020-2021/23

Subject Name:
Syllabus Breakup Class 9
(First Term)
Topic Learning Objectives Week
Hardware 3.1 Computer architecture: Candidates should be able to: 6 weeks
3.1 1. (a) Understand the role of the central processing unit (CPU)
3.2
3.3
in a computer
3.4 (b) Understand what is meant by a microprocessor
2. (a) Understand the purpose of the components in a CPU, in a
computer that has a Von Neumann architecture
(b) Describe the process of the fetch–decode–execute cycle
including the role of each component in the process
3. Understand what is meant by a core, cache and clock in a
CPU and explain how they can affect the performance of a CPU
4. Understand the purpose and use of an instruction set for a
CPU
5. Describe the purpose and characteristics of an embedded
system and identify devices in which they are commonly used
3.2 Input and output devices: Candidates should be able to:
1. Understand what is meant by an input device and why it is
required
2. Understand what is meant by an output device and why it is
required
3. (a) Understand what is meant by a sensor and the purposes
of sensors
(b) Identify the type of data captured by each sensor and
understand when each sensor would be used, including
selecting the most suitable sensor for a given context
3.3 Data storage: Candidates should be able to:
1. Understand what is meant by primary storage
2. Understand what is meant by secondary storage
3. Describe the operation of magnetic, optical and solid-state
(flash memory) storage and give examples of each
4. Describe what is meant by virtual memory, how it is created
and used and why it is necessary
5. Understand what is meant by cloud storage
6. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of storing data on
the cloud in comparison to storing it locally
3.4 Network hardware: Candidates should be able to:
1. Understand that a computer needs a network interface card
(NIC) to access a network
2. Understand what is meant by and the purpose of a media
access control (MAC) address, including its structure
3. (a) Understand what is meant by and the purpose of an
internet protocol (IP) address
(b) Understand that there are different types of IP address
4. Describe the role of a router in a network
 6.1 Automated systems: Candidates should be able to: 3 weeks
Automated and 1. Describe how sensors, microprocessors and actuators can be
emerging technologies used in collaboration to create automated systems
6.1
6.2
2. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of an automated
6.3 system used for a given scenario
6.2 Robotics: Candidates should be able to:
1. Understand what is meant by robotics
2. Describe the characteristics of a robot
3. Understand the roles that robots can perform and describe
the advantages and disadvantages of their use
6.3 Artificial intelligence: Candidates should be able to:
1. Understand what is meant by artificial intelligence (AI)
2. Describe the main characteristics of AI as the collection of
data and the rules for using that data, the ability to reason, and
can include the ability to learn and adapt
3. Explain the basic operation and components of AI systems to
simulate intelligent behaviour

Algorithm design and Candidates should be able to:

problem-solving 1.Understand the program development life cycle, limited to: 4 weeks
7.1 analysis, design, coding and testing
7.2 2.
7.5 (a) Understand that every computer system is made up of sub-
7.6 systems, which are made up of further sub-systems
(b) Understand how a problem can be decomposed into its
component parts
(c) Use different methods to design and construct a solution to
a problem
5.
(a) Understand the need for validation checks to be made on
input data and the different types of validation check
(b) Understand the need for verification checks to be made on
input data and the different types of verification check
6.Suggest and apply suitable test data
Revision 1 week
 (Second Term)

Topic Learning Objectives week

Data representation 1.1 Number systems: Candidates should be able to:
1.1 1. Understand how and why computers use binary to represent 5 weeks
1.2 all forms of data
1.3 2.
(a) Understand the denary, binary and hexadecimal number
systems
(b) Convert between (i) positive denary and positive binary (ii)
positive denary and positive hexadecimal (iii) positive
hexadecimal and positive binary
3. Understand how and why hexadecimal is used as a beneficial
method of data representation
4.
(a) Add two positive 8-bit binary integers
(b) Understand the concept of overflow and why it occurs in
binary addition
5. Perform a logical binary shift on a positive 8-bit binary
integer and understand the effect this has on the positive
binary integer 6. Use two’s complement to represent positive
and negative 8-bit binary integers
1.2 Text, sound and images: Candidates should be able to:
1. Understand how and why a computer represents text and
the use of character sets, including American standard code for
information interchange (ASCII) and Unicode
2. Understand how and why a computer represents sound,
including the effects of the sample rate and sample resolution
3. Understand how and why a computer represents an image,
including the effects of the resolution and colour depth
1.3 Data storage and compression: Candidates should be able
to:
1. Understand how data storage is measured
2. Calculate the file size of an image file and a sound file, using
information given
3. Understand the purpose of and need for data compression
4. Understand how files are compressed using lossy and
lossless compression methods

Software 4.1 Types of software and interrupts: Candidates should be 5 weeks

4.1 able to:
4.2 1. Describe the difference between system software and
application software and provide examples of each
2. Describe the role and basic functions of an operating system
3. Understand how hardware, firmware and an operating
system are required to run applications software
4. Describe the role and operation of interrupts

4.2 Types of programming language, translators and

integrated development environments (IDEs): Candidates
should be able to:
1. Explain what is meant by a high-level language and a low-
level language, including the advantages and disadvantages of
each
2. Understand that assembly language is a form of low-level
language that uses mnemonics, and that an assembler is
needed to translate an assembly language program into
machine code
3. Describe the operation of a compiler and an interpreter,
including how high-level language is translated by each and
how errors are reported
4. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a compiler and
an interpreter 5 Explain the role of an IDE in writing program
code and the common functions IDEs provide

Programming 8.1 Programming concepts : Candidates should be able to: 5 weeks

8.1 1. Declare and use variables and constants
2. Understand and use the basic data types
3. Understand and use input and output
4.
(a) Understand and use the concept of sequence
(b) Understand and use the concept of selection
(c) Understand and use the concept of iteration
(d) Understand and use the concepts of totalling and counting
(e) Understand and use the concept of string handling
(f) Understand and use arithmetic, logical and Boolean
operators
5. Understand and use nested statements
6.
(a) Understand what is meant by procedures, functions and
parameters
(b) Define and use procedures and functions, with or without
parameters
(c) Understand and use local and global variables
7. Understand and use library routines
8. Understand how to create a maintainable program
Revision 1 week