VCA-FND-101 — Digital Foundations
The entry point of the Virtus Academy secondary-school pipeline. A 14- or 15-year-old student leaves this course able to look at a number, a character, a color code, or a byte in a file and decode it with understanding — not by magic, and not by memorization, but by model. Covers binary, hex, Boolean logic, computer architecture at the block level, Linux shell, and basic Git.
Course Overview
VCA-FND-101 is the first course a Virtus Academy secondary-school student takes. Its job is to give a 14- or 15-year-old a correct, durable mental model of how a computer represents and manipulates information. The course is deliberately not “Intro to Coding” — programming comes in VCA-FND-102 the following semester. FND-101 is the under-the-software layer: how a byte stores a number, what Boolean logic actually does, what the parts of a computer are and how they communicate, and how to navigate a Unix filesystem. A student leaves knowing what computing machinery is; they do not yet leave knowing how to write an interesting program.
This distinction matters for the pipeline. Students who leap directly into programming often hit a wall later — they know what the syntax does but not why the machine cares. FND-101 prevents that wall by putting the layers underneath Python in place first.
Learning Outcomes
On completion, students are able to:
- Convert numbers fluently between decimal, binary, and hexadecimal, and explain why each representation exists.
- Decode ASCII and UTF-8 text from raw bytes; recognize common text encodings in a hex dump.
- Construct truth tables and implement basic Boolean logic circuits (AND, OR, NOT, XOR, MUX, adder) in a simulator.
- Describe the architecture of a general-purpose computer at the CPU / memory / storage / I/O block level and explain how a program flows through it.
- Describe the Linux operating system as a set of processes, files, and users; navigate the filesystem; perform basic file operations from the shell.
- Use SSH to reach a remote Linux system and work productively on it.
- Use
gitto clone a repository, make a commit, and push a change. - Take apart a discarded consumer electronic device, identify its major components by block function, and document the teardown in a lab-notebook entry.
Weekly Schedule
| Week | Lecture | Lab |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Course orientation; the model of a computer; what “digital” means | Set up personal Linux accounts; explore the desktop and terminal |
| 2 | Binary numbers I — counting, converting, why base-2 | Binary conversion exercises; Binary Bingo |
| 3 | Binary numbers II — arithmetic, signed numbers, overflow | Adding and subtracting in binary; recognize overflow |
| 4 | Hexadecimal — why it exists, nibble↔byte relationship | Hex conversion; read a hex dump of a file |
| 5 | Text encoding — ASCII, extended ASCII, UTF-8 | Write your name in hex; decode a hex dump back into text |
| 6 | Boolean logic — AND, OR, NOT, XOR, truth tables | Build logic gates in Logisim-evolution |
| 7 | Combinational circuits — multiplexers, adders | Build a 4-bit adder in the simulator |
| 8 | Midterm — 1-hour quiz covering weeks 1–7 | Catch-up lab |
| 9 | Memory — what it is, latches, RAM, ROM | Build a 1-bit memory cell in simulator |
| 10 | CPU — fetch / decode / execute cycle | Walk through a single-instruction trace |
| 11 | Storage and I/O — persistent vs. volatile, buses | Explore lsblk, mount, read a raw filesystem image |
| 12 | Linux I — the shell, files, permissions, processes | Filesystem scavenger hunt |
| 13 | Linux II — remote access with SSH; introduction to git | SSH into the lab server; git clone / commit / push |
| 14 | Teardown lab — identify components, draw the block diagram | Documented teardown of an e-waste device |
Week 15 is the capstone practical.
Capstone — The E-Waste Teardown Report
Working in pairs, students select a discarded consumer electronic device from the instructor’s supply (old router, defunct MP3 player, broken Wii remote, old cable modem, etc.), disassemble it safely, identify its major components, draw a labeled block diagram, and write a 3–5 page lab-notebook report. The report is graded on accuracy, completeness, visual clarity, and professional register at a 9th-grade level. Students present the artifact orally to the class in 5 minutes.
This capstone connects all the semester’s abstractions to a physical object the student can hold. It previews the register the Virtus Academy expects throughout the pipeline: take something apart, understand what’s inside, explain it clearly.
Required Hardware & Software
- Linux environment — program-provided Raspberry Pi at the student’s bench, or SSH access to a shared course server from any laptop or Chromebook. The course does not require a personal laptop capable of running a VM.
- Instructor-stocked teardown supply — ~12 discarded consumer devices per cohort, sourced locally from e-waste or donations.
- Per-student hand tools — small screwdriver set, tweezers, ESD strap (~$15 kit).
- Logisim-evolution — free, open-source digital circuit simulator.
- Terminal emulator and a code editor (VS Code, nano, or similar).
No textbook required. Recommended reading-for-pleasure: Petzold, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Microsoft Press, 2nd ed. 2022).
Certification Alignment
CompTIA Tech+ Cisco CCST Cybersecurity
Primary: CompTIA Tech+ (formerly ITF+) — CompTIA’s explicit pre-career certification designed for high school students exploring IT. FND-101 covers the substantive Tech+ domains (data representation, basic computing concepts, OS fundamentals) at greater depth than the exam requires. Students can sit Tech+ immediately after FND-101.
Secondary: Cisco CCST Cybersecurity — partially reachable after FND-101 (the “how computers work” portions); full readiness after VCA-SEC-101.
Certs are never required to complete a Virtus Academy course. Tech+ is multiple-choice; VCA-FND-101 requires a teardown report with oral presentation — students earn the cert as a side effect if they choose to sit it.
Interested in VCA-FND-101?
Cohort scheduling priority follows demand. Whether you’re an individual 9th-grade student, a parent, a school program evaluating pipeline adoption, or a corporate training program looking at digital-literacy baselines, send a note.