Algorithm Picture Lesson

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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. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Visual Media

Authors: Michael Speidel, Sharon Brandon

Building Models with Computational Thinking

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In this professional development presentation, educators learn about Building Models (1 of the 7 components of Computational Thinking, according the Ignite My Future platform). This presentation can be used by individuals to learn about them, or used to present to others. The video is a recording of one of the sessions provided to teachers through a 7 week series of "CT Parties".Within this resource, you will find the presentation slides, a recording, a K-2 and 3-5 lesson to build models, and activities to support parents understanding and home use of the strategy. 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.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: Rebecca Gratz, Shawn DeLuca

CS Education Week Hyperslides (2020)

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This resources maps out each day and includes resources for both synchronous and asynchronous activities to support CS Education Week. The document also includes a Computer Science word of the day to help promote the integration of the CS SOLs. 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.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: Rebecca Gratz, Shawn DeLuca

Coding With Fractions

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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 program a Bee-Bot (or similar robot) to locate fraction models. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Collecting & Analyzing Data

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In this professional development presentation, educators learn about Collecting and Analyzing Data (2 of the 7 components of Computational Thinking, according the Ignite My Future platform). This presentation can be used by individuals to learn about them, or used to present to others. The video is a recording of one of the sessions provided to teachers through a 7 week series of "CT Parties".Within this resource, you will find the presentation slides, a recording, a K-2 and 3-5 lesson to build collecting and analyzing data skills, and activities to support parents understanding and home use of the strategy. 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.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: Rebecca Gratz, Shawn DeLuca

The Effect of Water on Surfaces and a Model

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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 investigate the effect of water on surfaces as well as on a structural model they create.  

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Exploring with Lewis and Clark

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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 take on the role of a reporter traveling with Lewis and Clark.  Students program an Ozobot to travel along the path and pause at key sites as students report inportant findings and share artifacts from the expedition.   

Material Type: Lesson

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Finding Patterns in Computational Thinking

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In this professional development presentation, educators learn about Finding Patterns (1 of the 7 components of Computational Thinking, according the Ignite My Future platform). This presentation can be used by individuals to learn about them, or used to present to others. The video is a recording of one of the sessions provided to teachers through a 7 week series of "CT Parties".Within this resource, you will find the presentation slides, a recording, a K-2 and 3-5 lesson to build abstraction skills, and activities to support parents understanding and home use of the strategy. 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.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: Rebecca Gratz, Shawn DeLuca

Finding Patterns with Computational Thinking

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In this professional development presentation, educators learn about how to look at patterns (1 of the 7 components of Computational Thinking, according the Ignite My Future platform) in the world around you to make choices. This presentation can be used by individuals to learn about them, or used to present to others. The video is a recording of one of the sessions provided to teachers through a 7 week series of "CT Parties".Within this resource, you will find the presentation slides, a recording, a K-2 and 3-5 lesson to discover patterns, and activities to support parents understanding and home use of the strategy. 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.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: Rebecca Gratz, Shawn DeLuca

Impacts of Computing on Editing

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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 use a computing device to write a letter. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Investigating Earth's Energy Budget

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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.  

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Investigating Forces

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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 explore contact and noncontact forces. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Investigating Natural, Human, and Capital Resources

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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 the lesson, students will investigate the relationships between natural, human, and capital resources. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Investigating Potential and Kinetic Energy

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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 examples of gravitational potential and kinetic energy transformations using Scratch.  

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Investigating Weather Maps

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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.  

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Minecraft Colonial Settlement Lesson

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After completing background research on what it was like to live during the colonial times students will be placed in a Minecraft world where they will have to collaborate with a group of classmates to build a colony that provides food and protection since the game will be played in survival mode.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Michael Speidel, Sharon Brandon

Modeling Friction Using Scratch

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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 storyboard and pseudocode which will be used while creating a simulation using Scratch. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Adrienne Sawyer

Remote Robotics

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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.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Michael Speidel, Sharon Brandon

Renewable Resources & Minecraft Houses

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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.  

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Michael Speidel, Sharon Brandon

Scratch Solar System

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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. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lecture Notes, Lesson, Simulation

Authors: Michael Speidel, Sharon Brandon