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Computer Science Week

 



It's  CSED Week!!!!! The week is to call teachers to inspire students to learn computer science.  Notice it says INSPIRE.  You don't need to be a computer science teacher or know coding in order to inspire students to learn about computer science there are so many ways:

  • Research how technology is being used in a field today 
  • Look at a Large Data set related to the field of study you know, let students narrow down the data 
  • Have students read about Computer Scientists particularly ones they might not have heard about.  Such as people who invented the Internet, GPS, game consoles, smart devices, etc.. 
  • Use Twitter to connect with current Computer Scientists to ask them questions. Let students devise the questions to ask. 

If you want to code there are great ways to have students start coding in the classroom.  Just search hour of code and for one hour you can do a simple project.  There are tons of places out there.  If you don't know how to code, don't worry most are drag and drop so if you can follow directions you can help students if they need it, but the best thing is they will help one another!

My Favorites for coding that can be done ONLINE

  • Kodable. This is for Kindergarten through 5th grade.  It has some simple projects even if students can't read there are arrows that they drag around.  I used it with my own daughter when she was 5 and she loved it.
  • Scratch.  This is great for 4th grade and up.  Seriously colleges use Scratch to teach coding logic.  It was one of the first drag and drop programs out there, built by MIT.
  • Code.org For anyone.  There are activities for all age groups, hour of codes, and curriculum.  I have used code.org for AP Computer Science Principles. 
  • Kahn Academy.  I would use this in Middle and High schools as it is mostly text-based.  They have hour of codes activities:  animations, web pages, and databases (HELLO Math teachers!!!).
  • Processing.  This is Text-based.  But is graphical in nature similar to the Kahn Academy coding.  I love this as students learn about coordinates on the screen given the graphics and is a great way to introduce text-based languages if students have been doing blocks of code for a while now. 
Students can draw, make a story, design a choose your own adventure, create an animated poem.  The possibilities are endless. 

If you are looking for additional resources here are a few more I like:
  • CS First by Google. They have lessons that anyone can follow you don't need to know computer science, block-based. 
  • Alice.  This is a 3d Space and drag and drop.  It is a good start to learning 3D space.  This needs to be downloaded. 
  • Make Code From Microsoft.  There are tutorials for Minecraft, retro Arcade games, and the Microbit.  A Microbit is a board that you can connect other items to and download programming.  It is a great introduction to talk about other inputs.  Such as when the board tilts something happens.  You don't need boards to program there is a virtual one of the screen for testing.  But if you get serious about adding coding into your classroom I would purchase a few. 

CSED Week website has many other ideas as well.  Each day this week they are running an event at different times.  Check them out! 

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