Downloadable spreadsheet to assist ITRTs and Librarians in connecting the DLI SOL with 3-5 Computer Science SOL.

Can you see how far you can catapult a Pom Pom? I want to see! We are going to be building a catapult from scratch. Your goal is to see if you can catapult your Pom Pom at least 3 feet. 

Can you see how far you can catapult a Pom Pom? I want to see! We are going to be building a catapult from scratch. Your goal is to see if you can catapult your Pom Pom at least 3 feet. 

How many food chains are there within this ecosystem? Let’s create some to find out! You will have 5 minutes to create as many food chains as you can with your partner. Please record your food chains on a sheet of paper as you go.

Does all aquatic weed release oxygen during photosynthesis? Let’s find out! We will be observing this using one of your favorite sodas, as well as water.

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.

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.

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. 

Your task as an astronomer is to model the solar system using technology.  You and your crew are just one group that have been asked by NASA to chart the solar system in order to create a simulation model for future astronauts. After you have accomplished this, you will present your model to the Director of NASA. They have given you several requirements for the simulation. Your simulation should include a map of the solar system that shows the appropriate distance, location, size and relation to the sun amongst the eight planets. You and your team can use a variety of options to complete your simulation. These include Google Suite tools (such as Google Slides, Google Docs, Jamboard, or any equivalent tool such as Microsoft Office), Coding resources (Scratch.edu, tynker.edu) or 3D printing software (Tinkercad) to present. Your map should also include a short descriptive paragraph for each planet explaining its distance, location, size, and at least 3 facts about the planet. If creating a video, you will still want to include descriptions for the planets as well as the three facts.  Presentation to “NASA Directors” must answer the question: how does this simulation/model help future scientists?

This is an activity that can be used to introduce students to how the ASCII code is used in representing letters in coding.  Students will be given a table of the ASCII code that will be used to decode words and phases.  Then students will create a message in ASCII code and exchange with a fellow student to decyper the code.  An extension of this lesson can be to intoduce students to binary code that represent each digit int he ASCII code.

Cross curricular lesson plan integrating Computer Science and English Standards CS 4.4-5, 4.7 English 4.2a, 4.3, 4.6b

Cross curricular lesson plan integrating Computer Science, Science, and English Standards  CS 4.5 Science 4.3 English 4.4a, 4.8a

This lesson plan explores Artificial Intelligence using Teachable Machine, a program that uses images and sounds to create machine models. 

BeeBots are an engaging, hands-on way to introduce sequencing, algorithms, programming and debugging to primary and elementary students. In this introductory activity, information will be presented in a clear and concise way so that students can collaborate to plan, create, and run a program. Students will correct through debugging as necessary. The attached resource includes vocabulary and tips for using BeeBot with students. 

This slideshow introduces students to counting in binary and contains a very short self-check to help gauge understanding.

In this lesson, students will create a binary art representation of their names. This will reinforce the concept of using numbers to represent non-numeric ideas.

This is a lesson plan to teach bruteforce and divide and conquer to elementary students. This lesson plans comes with activities and a quizlet study deck. 

In the field of computer science, there are two approaches to solving a problem. One, being Brute Force, which is the method of just working out the problem until it is solved. This can be related to students with the idea of never giving up, or "I think I can, I think I can". Divide and Conquer is a problem solving method that braeks a larger problem into smaller problems. For example, if you have a big chore such as cleaning a house, start with one room at a time. This lesson applies these two methods to mathematics by using Brute Force to find multiples and common multiple of numbers. While the Divide and Conquer method is applied to fiding factors of a number through divisibility rules.