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
Instructional Video5:10
TED-Ed

How to Manage Your Time More Effectively (According to Machines)

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
The good news: you can run your life like a computer runs its schedule. The bad news: computers are not always the best at running their schedules. Learn more about schedulers within operating systems and what happens when something goes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Egg Carton Binary Numbers

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners take the abstract concept of binary representation and create a more tactile and concrete approach. Using egg cartons, they create a physical representation of binary numbers. The egg cartons become a tool to assist students in...
Instructional Video12:16
Crash Course

Neural Networks: Crash Course Statistics #41

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Combine multiple inputs to get one output. An engaging video discusses neural networks and how they work on a basic level, that of taking several inputs and determining a single output. Using examples, the narrator defines different...
Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Coloring Discrete Structures

For Teachers 6th - 9th
What's the least number of colors needed to color a U.S. map? The lesson begins by having pupils view a video clip on continuous and discrete phenomenon, then launches into an activity reminiscent of Zeno's paradox. A separate video...
Lesson Plan
Code.org

Practice PT - Design a Digital Scene

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The final performance task for the unit requires class members to utilize what they have learned to create a personal digital scene. Groups work together to develop a scene and then, using top-down design, break the scene into...
Lesson Plan
Code.org

Practice PT - Tell a Data Story

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Show your class how it all comes together. The last lesson plan in a unit of 15 has individuals take everything they learned in the data section to analyze the class-generated data. The pupils find a story they want to tell that appeals...
Instructional Video5:36
Curated OER

Analytics - How It Works

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Drawings flash across the screen as a narrator discusses how we extract meaning from digital information. Show this video to your high school engineering learners or in a computer science class. It may also be valuable to include in a...
Instructional Video3:06
Lesson Planet

EdTech Tuesday: BirdBrain Technologies with Tom Lauwers

For Teachers 5th - 12th
"Computer science and engineering design are things that all students will need to engage with as early as possible..." You'll be inspired to see what Roboticist Tom Lauwers of BirdBrain Technologies, LLC, is doing for education,...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Federal Reserve Bank

Barbie in the Labor Force

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
How have the women's share of the labor force and chosen occupations evolved in the United States over the last century? Using census reports, graphs detailing the gender makeup of the labor force, and analysis of the careers of...
Lesson Plan
Google

Adventure on the High Seas

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Ahoy there! A fun computer science lesson challenges pupils to write a program that creates an ocean wave. They then develop stories to accompany their projects. All of this takes place within the Scratch coding program.
Lesson Plan
Google

Animate a Name

For Teachers 5th - 9th
What's in a name? Pupils use the Scratch code blocks to animate letters in a name. They learn about events, sequencing, and loops in computer science by taking part in the project.
Instructional Video9:52
1
1
3Blue1Brown

Vectors, What Even Are They? | Essence of Linear Algebra, Chapter 1

For Students 11th - Higher Ed Standards
Take a look at vectors as geometric objects and then as an algebraic concept. The second video in a series of 15 introduces the vector using three perspectives: the physics, computer science, and mathematical. The resource shows the...
AP Test Prep
College Board

Advanced Object-Oriented Concepts

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Advance inheritance in the classroom. The resource is a professional development module with sections great to use in the classroom. Sections cover ideas of inheritance in Java along with abstract classes. Each section includes a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Capacitors: What Are They?

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students discover how capacitors help store data.  In this computer science lesson, students investigate how capacitors can store an electronic charge, eventually helping computers store data.  Students create their own...
Lesson Plan
Google

Music and Sound: Guru Introduction and Musical Talent Show

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Become talented in computer science. After interviewing a computer science guru, pupils work on individual projects related to a virtual music talent show. They learn how to use different code blocks in the Scratch programming language,...
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Sorting Socks is Algorithm Complexity

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Use hosiery to teach computer science. Scholars use socks to develop a set of algorithms. They find ways to find a particular sock from a set and ways to sort socks. Finally, they use their algorithms to consider time complexity.
Lesson Plan
Code.org

User Input and Strings

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils learn to apply strings in computer science. They master two new user interface elements and also use string type data to represent ASCII characters. Finally, individuals create an app for Mad Libs in the eighth lesson of the series.
Lesson Plan
Google

Art: Introduction and Discovery

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Art isn't the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about computer science. The first installment of an eight-part Google CS Art unit introduces the series and highlights class procedures. Pupils view videos that show how to use...
Lesson Plan
Google

Art: Greeting Card

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Greetings from your computer science class! The culminating activity in the eight-part Google CS Art unit has scholars create digital cards. The purpose of the cards is to show their families what they now know about programming.
Lesson Plan2:39
Code.org

Star Wars: Building a Galaxy with Code

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Welcome to the code side. The interactive lesson introduces coding in a game format with familiar characters. Young computer experts learn to develop code to control the interaction of the characters in the game. The activity ends with...
App
SurfScore

Kodable

For Students K - 6th
Prepare young scholars for life in the twenty-first century with this introduction to computer coding formatted as a fun problem solving game, this resource is a great way to develop children's sequential thinking...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Coding History

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students study the topic of codes in Computer Science. They research it history, divisions in the field and its applications. The lesson also includes a brief overview of the information technology theory.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Working With Local Computer Policies

For Teachers Higher Ed
In this technology worksheet, students practice setting up a computer system or network to go through the access process for data and logons.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Numerical Analysis/ Introduction to Algorithms and Pseudocode

For Students Higher Ed
In this math worksheet, students examine the concepts of algorithms and pseudocodes. Then they use the codes on a computer to execute the algorithms.

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