This resource is a comprehensive unit of instruction created and piloted by the ACSE Region III team over the 2022-23 school year. This unit, which is accessible through multiple links to include worksheets, slidedecks, teacher suggestions and planning documents, includes all components of the instruction with SOL connections and is intended to join Computer Science standards to an ELA content area.

The student will apply social science skills to understand the factors that shaped Colonial America by describing colonial life in America from the perspectives of large landowners, farmers, artisans, merchants, women, free African Americans, indentured servants, and enslaved African Americans, by creating a computational artifact.

Students will work in teams or individually to create a new technology that will change the world and be able to connect it to a technological influence from Ancient China or Egypt. 

This is a performance task where students act as a software engineer to create an algorithm for a robotic process of an everyday activity.  Students cooperatively test and revise their algorithms and the have another team sucessfuly complete their algorithm as well.    

Your students are archeologists at the Jamestown Settlement.  The settlement directors (teachers) would like to include information on the new website, and the students have been asked to make a program (ie presentation) on settlers first arriving in Jamestown and their first few years there.  They must target this program to people who are not familiar with the Jamestown settlement to attract their attention and curiosity to want to see more of the settlement and get them to come visit Jamestown.  Their program’s artifact should include pictures of real artifacts, maps, etc to help explain the sequence (ie timeline) of events or tell the story of the beginning of the settlement.  They should include a brief explanation with each slide.  They will present their presentation to peers who will give feedback as potential visitors to Jamestown.

Students will weigh the advantages of cybersecurity in protecting individuals and systems against potential disadvantages of the over-restriction of content and delivery.Students will communicate, verbally and in writing, the advantages or disadvantages of cybersecurity.

You have been offered a job with NASA as an astronomy assistant. Your first task is to create a digital model and fact sheet about the Earth, moon and sun for future fourth graders at Sealston Elementary. Your audience is current third grade students, and you will be hired to share at a Universe Fair based upon your successful completion of the task.

Get a Job! Students will use their persuasive messaging skills to research and promote various computer science fields in the unit.

Students will determine what type of data is needed to answer a question and will use Google Sheets to find patterns. These data skills are needed in many career and academic fields. In addition, students will use input output tables in their daily lives through the use of vending machines, banking, and taking trips to new places. This Performance Task allows them to practice these skills through real-world scenerios. 

Students will analyze a provided math problem with an incorrect answer (bug). Students will demonstrate their understanding of the process by identifying the error, solving the problem correctly and providing an explanation. Math problem solving directly correlates with the step by step process that computer science debugging requires. The purpose of this experience is to provide a jumping off point for a deeper understanding of the Computer Science SOLs. This could be the first time your students are exposed to the vocabulary (algorithm, bug, debugging) and can provide a good foundation of the understanding of the vocabulary in a concrete, low-technology way.

You are planning a special trip to a place you have always wanted to visit. You will need to know the weather trends for a specific time of year so that you will know what to pack. Students will create a presentation to organize their packing that should include a line graph included with data collected about local weather and communicate what they should pack and why based on their findings. Students will need to get feedback from peers if their conclusions for they need to pack align with the weather observed.  Students will use either a digital format or print format to predict what to pack for a trip of their choosing for two weeks. Students will choose a location, make a prediction, collect weather data, and analyze their results with a graph. Lastly, they will present to classmates to convince them to travel to their location and what to pack. 

In this performance task, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate the use of flowcharts in Google Draw and then create their own flowchart to show their understanding of the Order of Operations. 

The space industry has been creating innovative technologies for decades. Students in this lesson will explore the world of space technologies and how they play a role in our everyday life.

This performance task combines a computer science standard with both history and math standards. Students will "discover" an older version of a moden technology currently used. Students will collect data to determine which techonology has been most impactful on society. Students will graph and analyze that data. 

 Your friend asked you to enter a texting/typing competition but have months to practice. We know practicing something makes you better at it.  You will be given your current speed and how well you improve over each month.  It is your job to find your texting/typing speed given a number of months that you have practiced.  You are also to look over other student’s work to see if they made an error and if so, where. 

This performance task is designed for third grade and up to teach the importance of using strong passwords.  This would be helpful to use at the beginning of the year to review password safety with upper elementary school students to refresh their memory.  This includes an instructional slide show and a student handout.