The goal of this activity is to build critical thinking skills and excitement for Computer Science / Computational Thinking, while laying a foundation of fundamental programming concepts. By scaffolding basic concepts like sequencing and algorithms in an unplugged activity, students who are intimidated by computers can still build a foundation of understanding. In this lesson, students will learn how to develop an algorithm and encode it into a program.By "programming" one another to draw pictures, students experience some of the core concepts of programming in a fun and accessible way. The class will start by having students view a video of a simple program demonstrating how to develop instructions for building a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Students will start with simple shapes, and progress to the coding of a specific drawing that other students will then try to replicate (“running the program”). If there is a desire to have a more of a Math slant on the lesson, the drawing could take place on graph paper. Students would then use the coordinates to complete the drawing. 

Students will understand that words that sound the same are called homophones. Students will choose the correct homophone to complete a sentence.

Students will create their own PSA on computer science, highlighting impacts of computing and a data-related career (e.g. data analyst, data scientist, data engineer, data architect).

This video is part of the Continue to Know with WHRO TV series. Watch Joy Phillips teach about using context clues to find the meaning of multiple meaning words.