Computer Science & Technology

In college, I was comfortable with the content in my computer science classes because of how well UPrep prepared me." –Aisse Torres '17, Software Engineer at Microsoft

UPrep's curriculum challenges students to become thoughtful and intentional technology users. Our students use technology as a tool for learning, creativity, communication, and collaboration. Faculty work with our academic technology coordinator to develop students’ technology skills in real-world ways and model how professionals use technology in their respective fields.

Digital Citizenship: Students discuss positive social interactions online and practice respectful communication with online communities both on and off campus.

Intellectual Property, Research, and Evaluating Information: Our librarians partner with teachers to bring critical research skills into students’ classwork.

Reflection and Face-to-Face Time: While technology is integrated throughout our curriculum, students have time to reflect and build healthy habits around device use. Structured “no device” times and community expectations promote students building face-to-face relationships.

UPrep's Upper School students use laptops. By giving all students exposure to computational thinking across our curriculum, the faculty seeks to ensure that all of our graduates can successfully interact with and interpret data in their fields. For those students seeking additional depth in computer science, a complete sequence of electives is offered.

UPrep's 1:1, Bring-Your-Own-Device programs build student responsibility and skill in using technology in their academic and personal lives.

Clubs and Activities

VEX Robotics competition teams
Build-your-own-robot clubs
3D printing
Virtual reality
Laser cutting
Drone racing
E-sports

Elective Courses

Computer Science I: Python

Middle and Upper School
One semester

Students explore fundamentals of computer science and learn to write programs in Python, a language used by many scientists and software professionals. Individual and group projects include art, interactive quizzes, and games. Students build computational thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills, in addition to learning programming language features, including user input, text and graphical output, variables, control structures, functions, and lists. After this course, students will be well prepared for Computer Science II or an introductory college computer science course. No prior coding experience necessary.

Computer Science II: Java

Upper School
One semester

Students build a solid understanding of computer science fundamentals and the software development process while learning to write programs in Java, a language used by many software professionals. Individual and group projects include budgets, fraction math, and pattern analysis. Students build object-oriented design, collaboration, and debugging skills while learning Java language features, including input and output, variables and data types, control structures, methods, and classes. After this course, students will be well prepared for Computer Science III or a college computer science course. Prerequisite: Computer Science I or equivalent experience.

Computer Science III: Java

Upper School
One semester

Students explore additional topics in computer science, object-oriented design, and Java language features, including multidimensional arrays, ArrayLists, interfaces, inheritance and polymorphism, and recursion. Individual and group projects include cryptography, spreadsheets, and games. Students analyze standard searching and sorting algorithms, and gain deeper experience in the software development process, including unit testing. After this course, students will be prepared for Computer Science IV or a college computer science course focused on data structures and algorithms. Prerequisite: Computer Science II or equivalent experience.

Computer Science IV: Advanced Topics

Upper School
One semester

Students explore topics that typically appear in college computer science courses and software job interviews, as well as researching and presenting topics of interest. Students learn to implement and apply standard data structures, including stacks, queues, heaps, sets, hash tables, trees, and graphs. Students learn to design and analyze algorithms, and explore standard algorithms, including disjoint set union, minimum spanning tree, and shortest path. Other topics may include discrete mathematics, logic circuits, f inite automata, dynamic programming, and writing programs for popular puzzles like variant Sudoku and Rubik’s cube. Most code examples will use the Java language, and students may choose to use other languages for some projects. Prerequisite: Computer Science III or equivalent experience.

Data Science and Analytics

Upper School
One semester

This course empowers students to find, explore, transform, visualize, and interpret big data sets using some of the same programming tools used by professional data scientists. Students explore the use of data in public policy using public data sets and discuss issues of bias in data collection and analysis. Students analyze data to ask and answer questions about real-world topics, train and apply machine learning models, and query SQL databases. This course involves programming in the Python language; however, previous programming experience is not required. Prerequisite: Introduction to Statistics or equivalent experience.

Engineering I (intensive)

Upper School

Students are introduced to the ways of thinking and problem-solving that make engineering unique in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). Students work collaboratively to identify and creatively solve real-world problems in a broad range of engineering fields. As students learn how an engineer thinks and works, they gain a better appreciation for how the world around them has taken its current form, and how engineering can address problems that affect real people. This class is designed for students with a broad range of prior experience and math skills. We especially invite students from backgrounds that are not traditionally well-represented among engineers to explore this course.

Engineering II

Upper School
One semester

Students who have completed the Engineering I intensive dive deeper into more specific challenges with more advanced engineering skills. In addition to civil and mechanical engineering challenges, students complete projects in fields as diverse as robotics and biomedical, chemical, and aerospace engineering. Students leave campus when opportunities arise, visiting engineering sites and shadowing engineers. A special emphasis is placed on engineering for social justice, exploring how engineers can have a positive impact on the community and people around them. Prerequisite: Engineering I intensive or equivalent experience.

Current students and faculty:
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