Want to introduce some basic coding and real life examples of the Scientific Method? This is the lesson for you. Using either the online program MakeCode, or by purchasing the Handheld Kitronik Arcades, the students will be performing an experiment while coding a maze game. No purchases required if students only use the online platform. A whole lesson ready to engage your students and use Computer Science and the Scientific Method!

In this lesson, students will have a brief introduction to creating an app in Code.org’s App Lab.  They will then create an app that will determine if three given lengths can form a triangle or not.

Students are given a visual arts project to create a Mixed Media Anatomy artwork where they must decompose the process of completing the project into sub-components. Students will create prototypes (sketches) and will conduct the project as an iterative design by taking daily progress photos, making adjustments to the original design, and having peer feedback.   

Students will apply computational thinking to address the real-life problem of not knowing who to vote for president by decomposing their political ideology into “personal” and “economic” subcomponents and start self-reflecting on political issues so they cast a vote for the candidate and his/her platform that most aligns with their beliefs as opposed to basing it on propaganda and/or voting for a candidate who doesn’t agree with them on specific issues (an uninformed vote).

Students will learn about algorithms and programming at a basic level and use playdough and microbits to review information about the planets that they have learned.  Students will code using block coding and iterative design to debug their code.  Students will use data, lists, and arrays as well. Students will follow an outlined algorithm to correctly construct the planets to scale using rulers and play dough.