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Year 11
AQA

Careers in programming

I can identify the skills and habits good programmers develop and use a range of approaches to program a solution.

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New
New
Year 11
AQA

Careers in programming

I can identify the skills and habits good programmers develop and use a range of approaches to program a solution.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Programmers have to develop good habits when developing code.
  2. Programmers come from a range of backgrounds and have a range of experiecnce.
  3. There are alternative approaches to programming solutions.
  4. Appending to a CSV file is just like appending to a standard text file.

Keywords

  • Programmer - a person who writes computer programs

  • Solution - a means of solving a problem

  • Append() - a file handling mode that allows a program to write extra data at the end of a file without erasing the existing contents of the file

Common misconception

There is only one correct solution to a problem when programming.

There are lots of different approaches to solving a problem in programming. Some solutions can work better than others but the first stage in getting a solution is ensuring that it provides the expected outputs that are required.


To help you plan your year 11 computer science lesson on: Careers in programming, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

This lesson models some alternative approaches to programming, which are different to those modelled in other lessons. It is important to explain to pupils that the approach used previously has been used to explain and demonstrate how code is working.
Teacher tip

Equipment

All pupils require access to devices that can edit and run Python programs. Starter code files are available to copy or use directly via the Raspberry Pi Code Editor.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Writing to a CSV file happens:
all at once
Correct answer: line-by-line
in batches
Q2.
To write data to a CSV file, you need to:
Correct answer: convert it to a string with commas as separators
use a loop
use the
split()
method
save it as a text file
Q3.
What does the
join()
method do?
splits a string into a list
adds elements to a list
removes elements from a list
Correct answer: converts a list into a string
Q4.
Which of the following is a dynamic data structure?
string
integer
Correct answer: list
Q5.
Arrange these steps for writing data to a CSV file in the correct order:
1 - open the file
2 - convert data to a string
3 - write the string to the file
4 - close the file
Q6.
Arrange these steps for using the
join()
method:
1 - create a list
2 - specify a separator
3 - use the
join()
method
4 - get the string

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the file operations with their descriptions:
Correct Answer:open,prepare the file for writing

prepare the file for writing

Correct Answer:write,add data to the file

add data to the file

Correct Answer:close,finalise and save changes

finalise and save changes

Q2.
Which file handling mode allows you to add data to the end of a file without erasing its existing content?
Correct Answer: append, a, append(), append ( ), append ()
Q3.
Appending to a CSV file is similar to:
overwriting a text file
Correct answer: adding data to a standard text file
reading a text file
deleting a text file
Q4.
Is there only one approach to solving a problem in programming?
Yes, there is only one correct approach.
It depends on the programming language.
Only experienced programmers can find different approaches.
Correct answer: No, there are multiple approaches to solving problems
Q5.
What do programmers include in their code to explain its purpose or functionality?
Correct Answer: comments, a comment
Q6.
What is a benefit of having multiple approaches to programming solutions?
Correct answer: It allows flexibility and creativity.
It limits collaboration.
It reduces efficiency.
It creates confusion.