DiscoverE
My Friend Robot
Can you do better than a robot? Teams write instructions for a hypothetical robot to build a structure. They test their instructions by acting them out to see if they produce the desired structure.
Learning to Code Through Gameplay and Exploration 12-week Rotation for K-2
Think Like A Programmer! Puzzlets Cork the Volcano Curriculum
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Minecraft Hour of Code
Devote an hour to computer coding ... it's time well spent! The activity has young computer scientists write code to solve puzzles in the Minecraft game. They learn how to apply block codes and repeat loops.
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Solving a Simple Maze
Solve a maze ... from a robot's point of view. In the instructional activity, your scholars build a small, simple maze from cardboard and then find a route from the start point to the finish point. They write an algorithmic process that...
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Fun with Sorting
Who knew sorting could be so much fun? Scholars participate in a sorting activity where they develop questions to place a list of numbers in order. They consider how these questions can be used as an algorithm.
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Computing in the Cloud
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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Boolean Algebra is Elementary
See how Boolean algebra relates to video games with a lesson that teaches young scholars how to use Boolean algebra to create rules for a virtual world. They test the rule base for consistency in groups.
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Graphics: Bits and Points
What can a mural teach pupils about computer science? The activity has scholars create a mural on a wall to learn about bitmap and vector graphics. Along the way, they learn about the graphics coordinate system.
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Recursion: Smaller Sibling Pyramids
Get siblings to do your work. Scholars learn how to perform summations of arithmetic sequences in an innovative lesson. They use iterations, smaller siblings (tail-end recursion), and the divide-and-conquer approach.
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Search Engines
Introduce search engines with an activity that models how search engines work and the different algorithms they employ. Working in groups, class members then build search queries to demonstrate the knowledge learned.
Computer Science Unplugged
Treasure Hunt—Finite-State Automata
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Divide and Conquer—Santa’s Dirty Socks
The story "Santa's Dirty Socks" provides learners an example of a search algorithm that uses a divide and conquer system similar to a binary search algorithm. The included questions expand upon the concepts that follow the story.
Computer Science Unplugged
The Orange Game–Routing and Deadlock in Networks
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Card Flip Magic—Error Detection and Correction
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.
Computer Science Unplugged
Colour by Numbers–Image Representation
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Tablets of Stone—Network Communication Protocols
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Codes in a Song—Modems
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Tourist Town—Dominating Sets
As an introduction to using a network to determine the fewest number of nodes that meet a given condition, small groups work together to determine the fewest number of ice cream vans, and their locations, to be able to serve the people...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Poor Cartographer—Graph Coloring
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Intelligent Piece of Paper
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Conversations with Computers—The Turing Test
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...
Computer Science Unplugged
Ice Roads–Steiner Trees
As an introduction to Steiner Trees, class members are challenged to find the shortest paths to connect multiple points. The teacher introduces the problem by showing how to connect three points. Groups then go outside and construct a...
Computer Science Unplugged
The Chocolate Factory–Human Interface Design
What is this? What is it for? How does it work? Challenge the class to think about to how to design a new chocolate factory for the Oompa-Loompas to make it easy to use. The activity is the first of a three-part series on computer-human...