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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Building Grids for Games

For Students 8th - 12th
You can't play Tic Tac Toe without grids. In the fourth lab of a five-part unit, scholars learn how to build grids for games such as Tic Tac Toe. Along the way, they also learn about reporter blocks that perform calculations.
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Building Your Own Blocks

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Isn't building with blocks an activity for toddlers? The third lab of a five-part unit teaches young computer scientists how to create their own block instructions for programming. They use these blocks to create geometric figures, spell...
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Sprite Drawing and Interaction

For Students 8th - 12th
Discover how to program objects to move on a screen. In the second lab of a five-part unit, each learner uses block instructions to program a sprite to follow their mouse (cursor). They investigate how to use these same block...
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Building an App

For Students 8th - 12th
Create your own app with the first lab of a five-part unit. Future computer scientists learn the basics of programming a game application. They use a given software program to design an app where users try to click on a moving sprite as...
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Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Computing in the Cloud

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
What and where is "the cloud"? The lesson teaches scholars about the history of cloud computing and about its current uses. It also teaches how to install a multiple guest OS in a host OS and how to use cloud computing services.
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Unsolvable and Undecidable Problems

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Try as you might, some functions just cannot be computed. The lab introduces the class to the possibility of unsolvable problems. The fourth lesson in a series of seven begins with a logic problem, then progresses to looking at functions...
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Search Engines

For Students 9th - 12th
Which search engine is best? The last lab in a unit of five leads the class to investigate search engines. Working in groups, individuals read and discuss articles related to searching the Internet. Pupils develop suggestions that would...
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Three Key List Operations

For Students 9th - 12th
Develop an understanding of the Map, Keep, and Combine operations. The lab leads the class through the exploration of three list operations. Each task contains a self-check to measure scholars' understanding of the operation in the task. 
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Nesting Lists

For Students 9th - 12th
Create lists within lists. The second lab in a series of five in the unit has pupils develop a simple contact list app. The tasks within the lab build the need for an abstract data type. Individuals build more complexity into their...
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Algorithms

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Introduces the class to the idea of searching a list by building a script. Learners modify a guessing game script that will find a number in a list. 
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Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Combining List Operations

For Students 9th - 12th
Use list operations to modify an earlier version of Tic Tac Toe. The fourth lab in a series of five has pupils combine list operations to build more powerful operations. They take a project from a previous unit and enhance it to keep...
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Lesson Plan
Jason Learning

Tech in the Cycle

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
It might not be easy, but it is worth recycling electronics. Small groups determine the percentage of the materials that make up an iPad 2 and display the information in a circle graph. They then research the recycling process for...
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Lesson Plan
Code.org

Personal Innovations

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Here's a resource designed to serve as an introduction to a computer science course. Groups brainstorm an innovation that may improve technology or use technology to solve a problem. The plan guides the teacher through the introduction...
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eBook
Computer Science Field Guide

Computer Science Field Guide

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Imagine computer science all summed up in one book. This resource provides 16 chapters that cover many aspects of computer science, ranging from algorithms to software engineering. The e-book contains links to applets to help explain...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

Marching Orders—Programming Languages

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Computers need precise directions to complete a task. Class members experience what it is like to program a computer with an activity that asks one pupil to describe an image while classmates follow the directions to duplicate the picture.
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

Treasure Hunt—Finite-State Automata

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Introduce your class to the concept of finite-state automata with an activity that asks individuals to try to map their way to Treasure Island by taking different routes though an island chain. Each island has two ship sailing to...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

The Orange Game–Routing and Deadlock in Networks

For Teachers 4th - 12th
How is data able to move in a congested network? Groups simulate moving data around a congested network by passing fruit around a circle, following specific rules, until everyone ends up with their own fruit. Extension activities include...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

Card Flip Magic—Error Detection and Correction

For Teachers 4th - 12th
I can find the error in an array of cards? After watching a demonstration class members search for the error is the provided cards. The resource provides a real-life example of using ISBN numbers in error detection and using check sums.
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Lesson Plan
Computer Science Unplugged

Colour by Numbers–Image Representation

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
How do computers store and send images? Here's an activity that explains one way a computer can compress image information. Pupils decode run-length coding to produce a black and white image. Pairs then work together to code and decode...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

Tablets of Stone—Network Communication Protocols

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Show your learners that the game of Telephone isn't the only way messages get mixed up. Pairs transform into the sender and receiver of a message sent in packets. At least one pupil is the messenger who either delivers, delays, or fails...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

Codes in a Song—Modems

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
Let's listen to some codes. To understand how a modem sends binary numbers over a phone line, class member listen to the codes included in the provided mp3 files, translates the tones to binary numbers and then convert the binary numbers...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

The Poor Cartographer—Graph Coloring

For Teachers 2nd - 12th
Color the town red. Demonstrate the concept of graph theory with a task that involves determining the least number of colors needed to color a map so that neighboring countries are not represented by the same color. Pupils make...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

The Intelligent Piece of Paper

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
How smart is that piece of paper? The activity introduces the idea of computer programming as a list of instructions written by computer programmers. Two individuals play a game of Tic-Tac-Toe in which one follows the commands written on...
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Activity
Computer Science Unplugged

Conversations with Computers—The Turing Test

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Will the real computer please stand up? The premise of this activity is for the class to ask questions to a human and to a computer and to determine which is which. The class asks a given set of questions, and the person playing the role...