Computer Science Teacher Resources

Modern homes and classrooms are set up with any number of technological devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. And there is a strong possibility that your students already know how to navigate these devices and the online world they access. But do they understand the science that powers their digital lives?

Start young computer scientists with the basics of computer anatomy and functions, as well as a historical perspective of the personal computer. A helpful video on Alan Turing, whom many consider to be the father of computer science, can also fill in some blanks for students who can’t identify the ancestry behind their smartphones.

Extend your curriculum with a research project on Big Data and its role in learners’ lives. An informative presentation on computer language that focuses on top-down and bottom-up processing augments a programming class, as well as a project that inspires programmers to design a virtual card game.

But computer science doesn’t stop with computers! Apply the algorithms that power personal devices to everyday processes, like sorting socks or making peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Learners can also create physical representations of binary numbers with egg cartons in a hands-on activity.

No matter what your computer science pupils need, we’ve got you covered with our teacher-curated resources at Lesson Planet!

Showing 1,120 resources
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Google for Education: Children and Technology: Web Search Simulation

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
For this presentation show how fast web search is implemented. Create sample web pages, then have crawlers collect these pages, sorters sort them, and searchers retrieve the information.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Google for Education: Children and Technology: Full Development Cycle

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Experience what it's like to work in the field of technology, and take on something never done before. Brainstorm, prototype, plan, implement, work in a team, coordinate between teams, learn from failures or enjoy a success.
eBook
Princeton University

Programming in Java: Elements of Programming

For Students 9th - 10th
Writing code in java can be easier than writing a paragraph. Check out these step-by-step tutorials which show how to program in the java language.
Website
Other

Lira Lab: Laboratory for Integrated Advanced Robotics

For Students 9th - 10th
Site of the LIRA-Lab in University of Genoa, Italy which specializes in artificial vision and sensory-motor coordination from a computational neuroscience perspective.
Online Course
Other

Cave of Programming: Java for Complete Beginners

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn to program in the Java programming language. This free course assumes no prior programming knowledge, just a desire to learn to program.
Website
Other

Computational Thinking Illustrated

For Students 9th - 10th
An illustrated cartoon guide to solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior!
Article
Other

Iae Pedia: Computational Thinking

For Students 9th - 10th
Find some facts behind computational thinking, learn the history of this problem solving method, and understand how it affects different disciplines.
Article
Other

Quick Start Computing: Computational Thinking [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st
This short article clearly illustrates the need for teaching computational thinking in the schools. It lays out the foundation of teaching these skills across grade levels.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Google for Education: Children and Technology: Collaborative Creative Writing

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Students collaborate to create a story together at the same time using Google shared document.
Article
Other

W3 Schools: Sql Tutorial

For Students 9th - 10th
This SQL tutorial will teach you how to use SQL to access and manipulate data in various database systems.
eBook
Other

Tutorials Point: Learn Java Programming

For Students 9th - 10th
This tutorial gives a complete understanding of Java. It will take you through simple and practical approach while learning Java programming language.
Website
Other

Python Programming Language

For Students 9th - 10th
Python is a programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems more effectively.
Instructional Video
Other

Youtube: Techy Help: Should I Learn Java or C++ for Games?

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out some key differences between the two programming languages Java and C++. [2:08]
Instructional Video
Other

Iste: Computational Thinking: A Digital Age Skill for Everyone

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Computational thinking gives today's students the ability to recognize when and how technology can boost their own critical-thinking, creative and problem-solving skills in order to find innovative solutions to real-world problems. [3:47]
Instructional Video
Other

Derek Banas: Java Programming

For Students 9th - 10th
By popular request, this Java programming tutorial teaches all of the core knowledge needed to write Java code in thirty minutes. [34:30]
Article
Other

W3 Schools: Java Script Tutorial

For Students 9th - 10th
This tutorial will teach you JavaScript, the programming language of HTML and the Web.
Article
Other

W3 Schools: Xml Tutorial

For Students 9th - 10th
XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language software, and was designed to describe data.
Activity
Read Works

Read Works: I Break Stuff for a Living

For Students 5th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An autobiographical text about a young man who grew up interested in taking things apart to find out how they work, and how that later became career. A question sheet is available to help students build...
Lesson Plan
University of Canterbury

University of Canterbury: Cs Unplugged: Image Representation

For Teachers K - 1st
This activity explores how images are displayed, based on the pixel as a building block using data compression. The compression method used in this activity is based on the one used in fax machines, for black and white images.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Google for Education: Children and Technology: Collaborative Illustrated Story

For Teachers K - 1st Standards
Students collaboratively create an illustrated story as a team by using Google Presentation.
Activity
Code.org

Code Studio: Picturing Data

For Students K - 1st
Use a Play Lab project to collect data and make predictions. Use this unplugged activity to introduce data.
Lesson Plan
Code.org

Code.org: Cs Fundamentals: Persistence & Frustration: Stevie and the Big Project

For Teachers K - 1st
Help students realize that failure and frustration are common when working on projects, but that doesn't mean that they should give up.
Lesson Plan
University of Canterbury

Cs Unplugged: The Great Number Hunt (Sorted)

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
How would you look for a book in a library if the books were sorted in alphabetical order? Is that easier than if they were out of order?
Unknown Type
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Crypto Checkpoint 1

For Students 9th - 10th
Test to see if you successfully decrypted clues.

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