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Computing Ideas (Lovelace)

Description

In this lesson, students are introduced to Karel the Dog and how Karel can be given a set of instructions to perform a simple task.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Recognize, explain, and use the commands that Karel can be given. These commands are: move(), putBall(), takeBall() and turnLeft().
Description

In this lesson, students build on their understanding of how Karel the Dog can be given a set of instructions to perform a simple task.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Recognize, explain, and use the commands that Karel can be given
  • Debug and rework their code as well as someone else’s code
Description

In this lesson, students are introduced to functions through the lens of teaching Karel a new trick - how to turn right! Students will learn how to define and call a function that teaches Karel how to turnRight.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define and call functions
Description

In this lesson, functions will be used to teach Karel a new word or command. Using functions allows programs to be broken down into smaller pieces and makes it easier to understand.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand what functions are, how they are used and how using them improves programs
  • Design and implement their own functions to solve problems
Description

In this lesson, students will learn the importance of writing readable code and how using the start function can help achieve this.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the importance of writing readable code
  • Analyze and compare the readability of different programs
  • Use the start function to make their programs more readable
Description

In this lesson, students learn top down design and decomposition as the processes of breaking big problems into smaller, manageable pieces. The functions improve the readability of the code and avoid repeated code.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Break a large problem down into smaller, simpler problems
  • Write functions that solve the simpler problems, and use them as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Compare programs and identify good vs. poor decomposition
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how to utilize comments in their code to explain what their code is doing. Comments should include preconditions and postconditions. Preconditions are assumptions we make about what is true before a function is called in our program. Postconditions are what should be true after a function is called in our program.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the preconditions and postconditions of a function
  • Create clear and readable comments in their code that help the reader understand the code
  • Explain the purpose of comments
Description

In this lesson, students will be introduced to SuperKarel. SuperKarel includes commands like turnRight() and turnAround() since they are so commonly used. These commands come prepackaged with the SuperKarel library (API).

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Write programs that use SuperKarel instead of Karel
  • Utilize the new toolbox of commands that SuperKarel provides over Karel
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to use for loops in their programs. The for loop allows you to repeat a specific part of code a fixed number of times.

A for loops is written as follows:

for(var i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
    // Code to be repeated 4 times
}
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create for loops to repeat code a fixed number of times
  • Explain when a for loop would be a useful tool
  • Utilize for loops to write programs that would be difficult/impossible without loops
Description
  • A condition is a function that returns a true/false answer.
  • JavaScript uses if statements as a way to make decisions and execute specific code. If statements are helpful in writing code that can be used in different situations.
Objective

Students will be able to…
* Use conditions to gather information about Karel’s world (is the front clear, is Karel facing north, etc)
* Create if statements to only execute code if a certain condition is true

Description

If and if/else statements allow Karel to handle different types of worlds and allow us to solve more general problems.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of an If/Else statement
  • Create If/Else statements to solve new types of problems
  • Identify when an If/Else statement is appropriate to be used
Description

While loops allow us to repeat a section of code as long some condition is true.

Objective

Students will be able to…
* Explain the purpose of a while loop
* Create while loops to repeat code while a condition is true
* Utilize while loops to solve new types of problems
* Test their solutions on different Karel worlds

Description

In this lesson, students take a look at all of the control structures. Control structures can be selective, like if and if / else statements and are based on a condition. Other control structures are iterative and allow for repeated code like for loops and while loops. Basically, control structures control the way the commands execute.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify the different control structures that can be used to modify the flow of control through a program
  • Combine control structures to solve complicated problems
  • Choose the proper control structure for a given problem
Description

In this lesson, students will test their knowledge of control structures in preparation for the upcoming Karel challenges. Control structures (like loops and if statements) are useful in building programs that can be applied in various Karel worlds.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Analyze a solution to a problem and explain why it works
  • Use control structures to create general solutions that work on all Karel worlds
Description

In this lesson, students will learn the proper way to indent their code. Indentation is especially important when using multiple loops, functions, and if statements to show the structure of the code. Indentation provides a good visual approach to see which commands are inside vs. outside of a loop or if statement.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain why it is important to indent code
  • Identify proper indentation
  • Modify a program to have proper indentation
  • Write programs with proper indentation
Description

In this lesson, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the Karel unit to solve increasingly challenging Karel puzzles.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define a problem in their own words and plan out a solution to the problem
  • Break a large problem down into smaller pieces and solve each of the pieces, then use these solutions as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Utilize the proper control structures to create general solutions that solve multiple Karel worlds
  • Write clear and readable code using control structures, functions, decomposition, and comments
Description

When was the first computer made? What did it look like, and what was it used for? In this lesson, students will explore the creation and evolution of computing machines that now permeate our day-to-day life.

Note: This course was updated on October 7, 2020. You can find the original material in the Supplemental Module titled “Original Material: What is Computing?”

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify important historical events in the development of modern computers
  • Explore individual’s contributions to the development of the computer and discuss who gets to be included in the computer innovators group
Description

How are computers organized? What are the main components of a computer?

In this lesson, we will explore how different organizational structures of computers interact with each other to make computers functional.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand the main parts of a computer
  • Differentiate the difference between hardware and software
  • Identify input and output devices
  • Learn different types of networks
Description

What kinds of software do computers use and need?

In this lesson, the topic of software is broken down into types of software, how they interact, and the specific functions of the different types of software.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand and identify different types of software and their functions
Description

What is hardware? How does hardware work?

In this lesson, hardware is broken down into the different physical components of computers and how they contribute to the function of the computer as a whole.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand and identify the physical components of a computer & their roles in computer functionality
Description

Where is computing headed? What is Artificial Intelligence and what are the potential impacts that this might have on our world?

In this lesson, students learn about Artificial Intelligence and how the landscape of computing might change in the future. Students will discuss how these future developments might impact our society.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss the future of technology and computers in the world
Description

For the final project, students will create a short presentation about a specific model of computer. It could be an early computer model, or a computer model that is still being developed. They may pick any technology where a computer is the main component ? this includes phones, robots, drones, etc.

Objective

Students will be able to create and present on a specific model of computer using any technology where a computer is the main component (phone, robots, drone, etc).

Description

In this lesson, students will be introduced to HTML: the language for building web pages. Students will discover why HTML is important and how it works in order to start building their own web pages.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify the purpose and applications of HTML
  • Create their first simple web page
Description

In this lesson we upgrade from simple tags to full HTML documents. We learn some new tags that let us put information in different places on the web page, and we learn about the nested tree structure of an HTML document.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Discern the various parts of an HTML page
  • Create fully formed HTML pages
Description

In this lesson, students learn about formatting tags that let them modify the appearance of text and make their web pages look clear and aesthetically pleasing.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Apply formatting tags in order to modify the appearance of text and make web pages look clear and aesthetically pleasing
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to add hyperlinks to their web pages using the <a> tag.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Add and utilize hyperlinks on their webpages
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to add images to their own web pages using the <img> tag!

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Embed an image in HTML
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to add lists to their web pages and practice making different kinds of lists.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Incorporate different kinds of lists to their web pages
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to create and add tables to their web pages!

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create tables in their web pages
  • Explain the benefits of including tables on web pages
  • Compare various ways of displaying information and choose the appropriate format
Description

In this lesson, students will use HTML styling to make their pages visually appealing and unique.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Apply HTML styling to make their web pages more visually appealing and unique
Description

In this lesson, students will begin using CSS to add styling to their HTML pages.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Describe how CSS adds styling to HTML pages
Description

In this lesson, students use CSS tag selectors to select all elements of the same kind (<table>, or <h1> for example) and give them all the same style.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Use CSS tag selectors to select all elements of the same kind and give them all the same style
Description

In this lesson, students learn to use CSS class selectors to apply CSS styling to all HTML elements that share a specified class which allows students to be more specific when applying their styling.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Use CSS class selectors to apply CSS styling to all HTML units that share a specified class
Description

In this lesson, students will use CSS Selectors by ID to select a single element to format on a webpage.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Use CSS Selectors by ID to select a single element to format on a webpage
Description

In this lesson, students learn what a URL is and what happens when they visit a URL.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Describe the process that occurs when typing in a URL, from sending a request and response over the Internet to viewing a webpage
Description

In this project, students will be developing their first digital artifact: their very own website! This website will start off as their own personal homepage, and as students progress through the course, they can keep adding links to their favorite projects. By the end of the course this homepage will serve as their own personal portfolio website showcasing their work!

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create their own website from scratch, hosted at their own custom domain
Description

How do computers store and manipulate information? In this lesson, students learn how computers abstract complicated information into manageable chunks that they can then store and manipulate.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • explore and explain abstraction and the different ways that we can represent digital information.
Description

In this lesson, students will learn what a number system is, the difference between the decimal number system and the binary number system, and how to convert between decimal and binary.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Represent numbers in different number systems
  • Understand how to convert between the decimal and binary system
Description

In this lesson, students will learn what a number system is, the difference between the decimal number system and the binary number system, and how to convert between decimal and binary.

Objective

Students will be able to :

  • Understand the binary system
  • Encode various types of information using binary
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how computers break down images into concrete values that can be stored. Students will learn how images are represented digitally using pixels.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand how images can be encoded as data
Description

In this lesson, students will learn about the hexadecimal number system, and how it is useful in storing digital information. They will also learn how to convert numbers from the hexadecimal system to binary and vice versa.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand how to convert between the hexadecimal and binary system
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how the RGB encoding scheme allows us to encode colors as numeric data. It defines the amount of red, green and blue light in a pixel.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Encode colors
  • Encode color images as data
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how to include images in their programs and manipulate their pixels using WebImage. Students will learn how image filters manipulate stored pixel data.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Include images in their programs
  • Manipulate the stored pixel data arbitrarily
Description

In this lesson, students will have a high level discussion about what the internet is and how the internet works. The topics of anonymity and censorship will also be discussed.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand what the internet is
  • Understand how the internet works
  • Discuss the issue of anonymity
  • Understand the legal and ethical concerns surrounding internet censorship
Description

In this lesson, we explore the hardware that makes up the internet and explore characteristics of that hardware that define our experience on the internet.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss and answer questions about the hardware that powers the internet
Description

In this lesson, students will explore how internet hardware communicates using Internet Addresses and the Internet Protocol.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss the necessity of internet protocols
  • Recognize the hierarchy of elements in an IP address
Description

In this lesson, students will explore the DNS system and how it maps human readable domain names into actual accessible IP addresses.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand the DNS system and how it works
  • Recognize the DNS system as an abstraction
Description

In this lesson, students explore how messages get from one address on the internet to another.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain how computers communicate using routers
  • Explain what considerations are made when choosing a route
  • Discuss how routers are fault-tolerant because of redundancy
Description

In this lesson, students learn about the last piece of the puzzle for how the Internet works: Packets and Protocols. All information sent over the internet is broken down into small groups of bits called packets. The format for creating and reading packets is defined by open protocols so that all devices can read packets from all other devices.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the packet process and how protocols (TCP/IP and HTTP) are vital to the exchange of information on the Internet
  • Explain the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
Description

In this lesson, students are presented with different ways that the Internet impacts their lives. The Internet affects the way that people communicate (emails, social media, video chat) and collaborate to solve problems. It has revolutionized the way that people can learn and even buy things. Because the Internet is present in almost every facet of people’s lives, there are severe ethical and legal concerns that derive from the Internet.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Analyze the different ways that the Internet impacts their lives by learning about how the Internet contributes to collaboration, communication, etc
  • Evaluate whether the Internet has a more positive or negative effect on their community by citing examples from the lesson
  • Explain what the digital divide is and articulate their own opinions related to it
Description

In this performance task, students choose an innovation that was enabled by the Internet and explore the effects of this innovation. Students will produce a computational artifact (visualization, a graphic, a video, a program, or an audio recording that you create using a computer) and a written responses to several prompts. This lesson is meant to be a culminating project of students understanding of the Internet and its impact.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Complete the performance task by choosing an innovation enabled by the Internet and exploring its effects
  • Produce a computational artifact by creating a visualization, a graphic, a video, a program, or an audio recording that you create using a computer
Description

In this lesson, students understand how they can control and protect their footprint. As students use the Internet, they are building their digital footprint. This includes social media posts, emails, picture and video uploads amongst other online activities.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand how their online activity contributes to a permanent and public digital footprint
  • Articulate their own social media guidelines to protect their digital footprint
Description

In this lesson, students will learn about and discuss cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to harass or target someone. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Understand the impact of cyberbullying, and identify unacceptable bullying behavior
  • Identify proper actions to take if they are victims of cyberbullying or if they observe someone being cyberbullied
Description

In this lesson, students will learn to recognize online predatory behavior and strategies on how to avoid and respond to it. The Internet is a great place to socialize, but it is important to be aware of risks. Common sense and following safety guidelines can help students stay safe online.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify predatory behavior and how to respond to it online
Description

In this lesson, students will discuss and examine policies regarding privacy and security. Using best practices like setting strong passwords, reading privacy policies, and using https can help in staying safe online.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Use best practices in personal privacy and security, including strong passwords, using https, and reading privacy policies
Description

In this lesson, students will learn about and discuss information literacy. Information literacy is having the ability to find information, evaluate information credibility, and use information effectively.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Effectively search for and evaluate resources
Description

In this lesson, students will learn what copyright laws are and how to avoid copyright infringement. They will explore why copyright laws are important and how they protect the creators.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain what copyright laws are and why they are important
  • Find images they are legally allowed to use in their projects
  • Accurately attribute images they find and want to use
Description

In this lesson, students complete a summative assessment of the unit’s learning objectives.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Prove their knowledge of digital citizenship and cyber hygiene concepts through a multiple choice quiz
Description

Now that students have learned about digital citizenship and cyber hygiene, they will take what they have learned and create a PSA to inform members in the community about a topic!

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create a public service announcement for members of their community about a topic in digital citizenship or cyber hygiene
  • Use google sheets to store and analyze data, and create a data visualization.
Description

Congratulations! You have completed the Computing Ideas course! Time to celebrate and reflect on your accomplishments.

Objective

Students reflect on what they have learned in the course, celebrate the accomplishment of completing the course, and think about what their next steps are in their computer science education.