Context of the Standard

Large programs are often difficult to imagine and create. Large programs can be broken down, or decomposed, into smaller parts in order to facilitate the design, implementation, and review process. These smaller portions of programs are easier to design and implement. They can then be incorporated with other small components to build toward the overall goal. Programs can also be created by incorporating smaller portions of programs that have already been created. Program decomposition also enables different people to work on different parts at the same time.

An example of decomposition at this level is creating an animation by separating a story into different scenes. For each scene, a background needs to be selected, characters placed, and actions programmed. The instructions required to program each scene may be similar to instructions in other programs.

Essential Skills

Essential Questions

Essential Vocabulary

Students should demonstrate these skills:

• Analyze and decompose a problem into subproblems.
• Explain why multiple smaller problems may be easier to solve than one large problem.

Students should investigate these concepts:

• Why does breaking a problem down into smaller subproblems make the overall task easier?
• How does decomposing a program into subproblems help programmers when debugging a program?
• Why would using subproblems in a program be thought of as a time saving measure?

Students should apply these terms in context:

• Decompose