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.

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. 

In this CS First lesson, students will engage in hands-on coding activities to illustrate an energy transformation scenario of their choice, identifying and explaining at least four different types of energy involved in the process.

In this activity, participants plan and conduct a plant growth experiment while considering the role of data quality in automated systems in agriculture. The timing of the activity is highly dependent on the seed variety that you are growing and the level of familiarity that participants already have with basic plant science and scientific investigation concepts, but will likely take several weeks. This activity is part of the Agricultural Cyberbiosecurity Education Resource Collection that contains resources for formal and non-formal agricultural educators working with middle school aged youth. Published as Open Educational Resources, all resources are provided in durable (pdf) and customizable (MS Word) formats. They are hosted on  GoOpenVA in a unique resource collection, Ag Cybersecurity Virginia Tech, at https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/143 and on on Virginia Tech’s stable repository, VTechWorks at https://doi.org/10.21061/cyberbiosecurity

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the idea of decomposition. Specifically the lesson caters to math word problems, but could be easily modified to any subject (as found in the modificaitons section of the lesson plan). Students will engage with each other and the vocab to work through an easy process to decompose word problems into manaeagable pieces as a strategy to solve. All activities are low prep and can be modified to your needs. This can be a stand alone lesson or expanded by using Part 2 and Part 3 to deepen understanding through coding activities. 

This lesson expands upon the ideas of decomposition by using GameChangineer to incorporate commands to create a coded mini game from decomposing word problems. Students will assist the teacher in this guided lesson on how to create commands and use the website before engaing independently in Part 3. Activities are low prep with modifications included, but do require organized planning to implement effectively. If you have not done a lesson on decomposition, it is suggested you use Part 1 to help student's gain the necessary understandings of the processes used in this lesson. 

This is the final part of an extended lesson on decomposition. Students will create a word problem to decompose and then use GameChangineer to create a mini game that is reflective of the word problem and its solution. Students will be using the plan, design, and review process thourhgout their creations. A rubric and self reflection tool for the final products are included. Activities are low prep with modifications included, but do require organized planning to implement effectively. If you have not done a lesson on decomposition, it is suggested you use Part 1 to help student's gain the necessary understandings of the processes used in this lesson. If you have not done a lesson on writing commands and using GameChangineer, it is suggested you use Part 2 before implementing this independent activity. 

This lesson is part of the Virginia K-12 Computer Science Pipeline which is partly funded through a GO Virginia grant in partnership with Chesapeake Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and the Loudoun Education Foundation.   During this lesson, students will create a simulation of Earth's Enegy Budget using Scratch.  

This lesson is part of the Virginia K-12 Computer Science Pipeline which is partly funded through a GO Virginia grant in partnership with Chesapeake Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and the Loudoun Education Foundation.    In this lesson, students will create isotherms and isobars on weather maps.  

Video Description:  In this close-up video, Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, Remote Sensing Scientist for NASA Harvest, shares her passion for helping farmers around the world through the use of NASA satellites to monitor crops from space to increase sustainability. She also describes how her love for hiking, photography, and travel supports her work.  Video Length:  2:09.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Ask SME: Close-up with a NASA Subject Matter Expert videos are professionally developed to capture a glimpse of NASA SME's personal interests and career journeys. Each can be used to spark student interest and broaden their ideas of the STEM workforce. Additional videos in this series can be found by searching GoOpenVA using "NASA eClips Ask SME".

Video Description:  How does NASA test ideas, like the Mars Helicopter, before they are even built? Find out more about this revolutionary helicopter and how NASA uses mathematical modeling to turn complex ideas into solvable equations that help shape future missions. Video Length:  3:20.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

NASA eClips Real World:  Food Security -- Monitoring Crops from SpaceVideo Description:  Discover how NASA's Earth-observing satellites gather data to monitor food growth. Dr. Inbal Becker-Reshef describes how mathematics is used to interpret satellite data and describe vegetation and crop yield. Dr. Hannah Kerner shares how algorithms and models use NASA data to describe and predict food supply and food shortages. This work through NASA Harvest provides tools for farmers and governments to describe and predict food security worldwide. Video Length:  5:25.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

Video Description:  At NASA everything begins with an idea. Physical models help NASA engineers and technicians test those ideas before building full-scale versions. Learn more about the important role physical modeling, building prototypes and mathematics play in engineering solutions.  Video Length:  3:11.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

Following Curiosity and Perseverance on Mars often means roving to places with interesting materials  to study, places away from the initial landing site. In this lesson, students experience the processes involved in engineering a communication protocol. To  reach their goal, students must create a calibrated solution within constraints and  parameters of communicating with a rover on Mars. Students will explore the opportunities and challenges of remote robotics by framing the problem around the idea that scientists and computer scientists must work together to successfully program rovers in remote locations like Mars. Students will also explore the idea that a robot simply follows a set of well defined algorithms.  Students will be provided a set of possible courses that their robot must navigate. Students will code their robot to navigate around the obstacles within the course to arrive at a set location.

Students will explore the opportunities and challenges of using renewable energy by selecting a Minecraft Biome and developing a home that utilizes the unique characteristics of that biome to create energy. The lesson is intended to be completed in two different parts. In Part 1, students will learn about how Clean Energy sources can be different based on the biome. They will also familiarize themselves with Minecraft. In Part 2, students will select a specific Minecraft world (6 different biomes) and will design and build a home that uses a renewable energy source unique to that biome.  

In this lesson students will be able to identify that computers, like the solar system, complete predictable actions based on a set of variables. Students will learn about the solar system via Scratch.  They will explore block coding and computational thinking practices as they utilize Scratch as a tool for creativity, expression and learning about the Solar System. 

This lesson is part of the Virginia K-12 Computer Science Pipeline which is partly funded through a GO Virginia grant in partnership with Chesapeake Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and the Loudoun Education Foundation.  During this lesson, students will create a timeline of space exploration.  

Students are practicing using Scratch programming to program microbit sensors to continually read temperature.  Doing this will familiarize students with the Scratch programming software to program TDS and Temperature sensors for the fishtank in the hallway.

This activity introduces puts participants in the role of agricultural workers in a fresh produce operation that grows crops in a hydroponic system to sell at grocery stores. As they grow their crops over the course of several weeks, they are responsible for ensuring that the products are safe, delicious, and ready to sell to customers. This activity is part of the Agricultural Cyberbiosecurity Education Resource Collection that contains resources for formal and non-formal agricultural educators working with middle school aged youth. Published as Open Educational Resources, all resources are provided in durable (pdf) and customizable (MS Word) formats. They are hosted on  GoOpenVA in a unique resource collection, Ag Cybersecurity Virginia Tech, at https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/143 and on on Virginia Tech’s stable repository, VTechWorks at https://doi.org/10.21061/cyberbiosecurity

Students will program Sphero RVR+ robots to explore a mock crime scene to determine if it is safe for humans to investigate without destroying evidence or running into objects. Students will apply their knowledge of physical evidence to determine what objects in the crime scene need to be avoided when sending the robot into the crime scene.