CODING4SOLS

TEACHING CODING & PRE-CODING: MEETING THE NEW COMPUTER SCIENCE STANDARDS - CRNL 89570

This course is a hands-on introduction to Algorithms and Coding as described in the VDOE Computer Science Standards, with a focus on integrating those skills across the curriculum. It is an entry-level class, and no prior coding experience is needed. This course is suitable for teachers in kindergarten through eighth grade.

In this course participants will:

become familiar with the relevant VDOE Computer Science Standards for their grade level
learn how to build pre-coding skills
develop simple programs in the Scratch and Scratch Jr block-based programming languages
use block-based programming languages to control simple robots
be introduced to text-based programming languages
integrate coding across the curriculum

Please bring a laptop/chromebook to class on Saturday. If you don't have one available, I will have a couple of spare computers that can be used.

SCHEDULE

Friday evening

Take a look at the VDOE Computer Science Standards for your grade level, focusing on the Algorithms and Programming strand. Don’t worry if some of the terms are unfamiliar, we will be discussing them and putting them into practice on Saturday. The SOLs can be found here and downloaded as a PDF or Word document: https://doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/computer-science/index.shtml

The VDOE Computer Science Standards for K - 12 are organized into six strands: Algorithms and Programming, Computing Systems, Cybersecurity, Data and Analysis, Impacts of Computing, and Networks and the Internet. For this class we will focus on the Algorithms and Programming strand. VDOE describes this strand as follows:

“Algorithms and Programming involves the use of algorithms. An algorithm is a sequence of steps designed to accomplish a specific task. Algorithms are translated into programs, or code, to provide instructions for computing devices. Algorithms and programming control all computing systems, empowering people to communicate with the world in new ways and solve compelling problems. The development process to create meaningful and efficient programs involves choosing which information to use and how to process and store it, breaking apart large problems into smaller ones, recombining existing solutions, and analyzing different solutions.”

From the VDOE Computer Science Standards of Learning, p. 8

Most of class Saturday will be spent learning about, and practicing, many of the terms you’ll see in the Standards (pre-coding skills, block-based programming, loops, conditionals, variables) it might be helpful to preview some of these concepts, programming languages, and robots we’ll be using. I’ve provided some links to websites that will provide this preview. There are also some introductory videos for the coding languages and robots will be using Saturday, listed underneath the schedule for that day.

Definitions

https://k-12computationalthinking.blogspot.com/p/definitions.html

Algorithms and programming K-2

https://k-12computationalthinking.blogspot.com/p/algorithms-and-programing-k-2.html

Algorithms and programming 3 and above

https://k-12computationalthinking.blogspot.com/p/coding_16.html

Algorithms and coding – integration, coding as literacy

https://k-12computationalthinking.blogspot.com/p/cs-first-not-just-science-and.html

More integration with Scratch – sample projects, Mali, Photosynthesis, Atoms, Ancient Rome

https://k-12computationalthinking.blogspot.com/p/performance-tasks_21.html

Coding and fiction

https://k-12computationalthinking.blogspot.com/2020/06/computational-thinking-fiction-books.html

Saturday

Saturday will be devoted to hands-on practice with coding and programming simple robots that provide a physical, easy to visualize example of working computer code. To get an idea of how these bots work, I’ve provided links to short videos that show how these machines are programmed and what they do. The format for class will be discussing/practicing the code (sometimes using robots), then discussing how this work might be integrated into different content areas.

Review VDOE Computer Science standards

Pre-coding

· Coder Mouse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_hRTaHydBg

· Botley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r5deOtPlyc

· Ozobot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5d4iXGbIGs

(Curriculum integration)

Block based programming

· Scratch Jr

· Scratch

(Curriculum integration)

Mixed programming (block-based and text-based)

· Micro:bit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csw2QiMIc4s