Students will explore a wide variety of new and innovative computing platforms while expanding their understanding of what a computer can be.
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Students will design a prescribed app, making changes to design elements to match the intended design. By reading and changing the content on the screen of an app, the class starts to build apps that only need a single screen. Even with just one screen, these techniques allow for lots of user interaction and functionality.
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Students will use the design circuit boards and create an app of their own design.
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Students take what they've learned through Unit 6 Chapter 1 and develop an app of their own design that uses the circuit board to output information.
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Students will plan, design, and create a physical prototype using block programming to control simple wire circuits using cheap and easily found materials.
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Students, working with a partner or team will brainstorm physical devices they wish to prototype. Students have the option to design a new creation or recreate a device they have found in the "real world". Students will complete a planning guide to determine the resources (physical and digital) they will need to create their prototype. Students will design a user interface (typically an app or circuit board) that may control some output device (like a circuit board). It will be necessary for students to develop pseudocode or algorithms to aid in the coding process. Students will need to complete the problem-solving process during this lesson plan which will include testing a revising the prototype.
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This is informational material that can be used to teach about the Gettysburg Address. There are links to various resources including a recording of the Gettysburg Address and stories behind the words of the address. Students can also examine the document itself and compare it to other famous speeches such as the "I Have a Dream Speech".
This lesson will guide students through the steps of debugging. Students will learn the mantra: "What happened? What was supposed to happen? What does that tell you?"
Research shows that some students have less trouble debugging a program than writing one when they first learn to code. In this lesson, we introduce the idea of debugging in a real-world sense. The goal in this lesson is to teach students steps to spot a bug and to increase persistence by showing them that it's normal to find mistakes. In later lessons, students will debug actual programs on Code.org.
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When students run into a barrier while answering a question or working on a project, it’s so easy for them to get frustrated and give up. This lesson will introduce students to the idea that frustration can be an important part of learning. Here, frustration is presented as a step in the creative process, rather than a sign of failure.
This lesson can be done over one or two class sessions. If you have more time, feel free to draw out the building and revising phase of the Marble Run activity. The goal of this lesson is to help students realize that failure and frustration are common when working on projects, but that doesn't mean that they should give up. In this lesson, students will develop an understanding of what it means to be frustrated while working on a large project. It's possible that not every student will experience frustration with this activity, but there are many opportunities to open a discussion about moments in the past where students have felt frustrated but nevertheless persisted.
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In this lesson, students will relate the concept of algorithms back to everyday, real-life activities by planting an actual seed. The goal in this lesson is to start building the skills to translate real-world situations to online scenarios and vice versa. In this lesson, students will learn that algorithms are everywhere in our daily lives. For example, it is possible to write an algorithm to plant a seed. Instead of giving vague or over-generalized instructions, students will break down a large activity into smaller and more specific commands. From these commands, students must determine a special sequence of instructions that will allow their classmate to plant a seed.
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This lesson will give students an idea of what to expect when they head to the computer lab. It begins with a brief discussion introducing them to computer lab manners, then they will progress into using a computer to complete online puzzles. The main goal of this lesson is to build students' experience with computers. By covering the most basic computer functions such as clicking, dragging, and dropping, we are creating a more equal playing field in the class for future puzzles. This lesson also provides a great opportunity to introduce proper computer lab behavior.
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This unplugged lesson brings together teams with a simple task: get the "flurb" to the fruit. Students will practice writing precise instructions as they work to translate written instructions into the symbols provided. If problems arise in the code, students should also work together to recognize bugs and build solutions. The bridge from algorithms to programming can be a short one if students understand the difference between planning out a sequence and encoding that sequence into the appropriate language. This activity will help students gain experience reading and writing in shorthand code.
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Using characters from the game Angry Birds, students will develop sequential algorithms to move a bird from one side of a maze to the pig at the other side. To do this, they will stack code blocks together in a linear sequence, making them move straight, turn left, or turn right. In this lesson, students will develop programming skills on a computer platform. The block-based format of these puzzles helps students learn about sequence and concepts, without having to worry about perfecting syntax.
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Students will apply the programming concepts that they have learned to the Harvester environment. Now, instead of just getting the character to a goal, students have to collect corn using a new block. Students will continue to develop sequential algorithm skills and start using the debugging process. In this lesson, students will develop debugging skills and will continue developing their programming skills.
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In collaboration with Common Sense Education, this lesson helps students learn that many websites ask for information that is private and discusses how to responsibly handle such requests. Students also find out that they can go to exciting places online, but they need to follow certain rules to remain safe.>
Common Sense Education has created this lesson to teach kids the importance of being safe online. By relating places in the real world to websites on the internet, students will make important connections between safe websites and safe places in their own neighborhood.
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This activity revisits concepts from Happy Maps (CSF Unit 2 Lesson 5). This time, students will be solving bigger, longer puzzles with their code, leading them to see the utility in structures that let them write longer code in an easier way.
This lesson serves as an introduction to loops. Loops allow for students to simplify their code by grouping commands that need to be repeated. Students will develop critical thinking skills by noticing repetition in movements of their classmates and determining how many times to repeat commands. By seeing "Happy Maps" again, students will get the chance to relate old concepts such as sequencing to the new concept of repeat loops.
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Building on the concept of repeating instructions from "Happy Loops", (Lesson 9 - precedes this lesson in Code.org Course A 2018 curriculum) this lesson will have students using loops to pick corn more efficiently on Code.org. In this lesson, students learn more about loops and how to implement them in Blockly code. Using loops is an important skill in programming because manually repeating commands is tedious and inefficient. With the Code.org puzzles, students will learn to add instructions to existing loops, gather repeated code into loops, and recognize patterns that need to be looped.
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In this learning activity, students will analyze a famous letter written by Grace Badell to President Abraham Lincoln. Using hints about Grace's family from the letter, students will draw pictures of her family.
In this activity, students will read the story, Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick and pick a moment in the story to add a new scene in the form of a comic strip.
In this activity, students will be able to recite the first verse and paraphrase "The Star-Spangled Banner." Students will also be able to explain why Francis Scott Key wrote the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" in 1814.
In this learning activity, students analyze "The Star-Spangled Banner" for Key's use of poetic devices. Students express the meaning of "The Star-Spangled Banner" national anthem in their own words and write their own poetry in relation to the flag or another historical event.
This learning activity details the history of voting methods in the United States including manual, mechanical, and electronic balloting. Students will also learn about the purposes and functions of the Electoral College and the Electoral Commission. Included in the resource is an interactive voting exhibition.
This informational site focuses on the history of the various methods of voting including paper ballot, machine ballot, and electronic voting systems used today. Students explore the range of voting technologies using the online exhibition from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
In this activity, students examine both the integrationist and the segregationist arguments of Brown v. Board of Education through role play and explore the Supreme Court's decision through primary source photograph analysis.
In this lesson, students analyze political cartoons and letters to the editor in order to identify the range of reactions to the Brown V. Board of Education Supreme Court decision and the ways in which the court's mandates were blocked. Students will also connect a current issue to the Brown V. Board of Education case.
In this lesson, students create posters to help identify the role of Howard University as an African American cultural center, the emergence of black lawyers as civil rights leaders, the importance of the NAACP, and the roles of Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall.
In this lesson, students research to gather information to create a radio broadcast about the five court cases that made up Brown V. Board of Education. Students will tell the stories of African Americans who demanded better educational opportunities for their children.
In this lesson, students identify and discuss the condition and aspirations of free African Americans in the years following the Civil War. Students identify the social factors that led to the rise of Jim Crow segregation and evaluate the effects of segregation.
In this lesson, students identify the purpose and goals of education in American society and explain why African Americans chose to challenge segregated education.
In this lesson, students simulate situations Japanese American children faced by creating a list of things that are important to them and choosing what they would take and leave behind to develop empathy for the Japanese American internment camp experience.
In this learning activity, students learn about the methods and tools necessary to conduct a genealogical interview to research women's history in their family.
In this activity, students will read about the Carnival in Ponce, Puerto Rico and about being a vejigante. Then, students will design their own Carnival costume.
This is a hands-on learning activity where students learn the meaning of imagery by examining images on two Pueblo pots and reading short excerpts from Native American folklore. They will design their own pots by creating symbols and explaining the meaning of the symbols.
In this learning activity, students will use their "senses" to see, smell, and feel what it would have been like to live on a prairie long ago.
This informational link includes 15 audio recordings by jazz greats and introductions that discuss the relevance of the songs.
