Code.org
Lossy Compression and File Formats
I'm compressed. Groups do a rapid research of different file types to determine what kind of compression the formats use and how it works. They share their information with the rest of the class until everyone has all the information for...
Code.org
Making Data Visualizations
Relax ... now visualize the data. Introduce pupils to creating charts from a single data set. Using chart tools included in spreadsheet programs class members create data visualizations that display data. The...
C-SPAN
Electoral College Pros/Cons and Alternatives
If every vote counts, why do we need the electoral college? Middle and high schoolers study the Constitutional precedent of the electoral college, as well as its place in historical and modern elections, with an engaging social studies...
Kenan Fellows
Reading Airline Maintenance Graphs
Airline mechanics must be precise, or the consequences could be deadly. Their target ranges alter with changes in temperature and pressure. When preparing an airplane for flight, you must read a maintenance graph. The second...
Scholastic
The First Thanksgiving Feast
Following an online activity, scholars listen to a read-aloud of If You Were at the First Thanksgiving by Anne Kamma. Pupils discuss their family traditions and complete a T-chart comparing the holiday then and now. Collages are made to...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Failure: Seeds of Innovation
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" Through this assignment, emerging engineers examine how failed experiments are simply part of the process of an outstanding design. They begin with some reading about the microwave oven,...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Play
Raise the curtain to a class play that depicts the Civil War through both factual information and literary devices. The performance showcases the Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg) and brings attention to women's roles,...
Code.org
Good and Bad Data Visualizations
Good versus bad data. Pairs rate online collections of data representations from good to bad and then suggest ways to improve the visualizations. The class then creates a list of best practices and common errors in data representations...
Code.org
Introducing Design Mode
Move beyond buttons when designing user interfaces. In the fourth installment of a 21-part unit, young computer scientists learn to apply design mode, which gives users options for colors, fonts, etc. They learn to incorporate these...
Code.org
Processing Arrays
Scholars use a playing card activity to help them develop a program to find the minimum value of a list. They learn to use for loops to write code that will process lists.
Code.org
Canvas and Arrays in Apps
Scholars learn how to make a digital canvas and fill it with artwork by creating a drawing app using the canvas element. The activity requires learners to previous knowledge of arrays and return commands to draw images.
Code.org
Compound Conditional Logic
Scholars explore compound conditional logic and learn to use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT within conditional statements by incorporating these operators to improve a previously created app.
Code.org
Cracking the Code
Scholars learn how to crack secret codes as they continue reading from the Blown to Bits and try to crack the random substitution cipher. They also begin learning about the Vigenere cipher.
Code.org
Asymmetric Keys – Cups and Beans
Beans are for more than just counting! Introduce public key cryptography with cups and beans and ask scholars to use the beans to send secret numbers. Participants learn how this activity relates to public key cryptography and...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Public Keys, One Way Functions and Hard Problems
Use paint to teach about cryptography. Scholars explore public key cryptography by attempting to mix a secret color using paint. After the activity, they investigate the Diffie-Hellman method using prime numbers, exponents, and modular...
Code.org
Number Systems
Generating a system of shapes. Groups work together to create a number system using three different shapes as symbols. The groups should come up with the rules that generate all the possible permutations of the three shapes.
Code.org
Creating Summary Tables
Let the computer summarize all that data. Pairs work together to learn how to create pivot tables by following directions in the online module. They then utilize the data collected from the beginning of the unit to create their own...
Code.org
Creating Functions
Quit repeating yourself ... you can make this simpler! Rather than repeating the same set of code over and over, class members learn to build and call functions in a series of challenges in App Lab. In the end, they combine...
Code.org
APIs and Using Functions with Parameters
Introduce your class to the API, a reference guide that lists and explains the functionality of programming language. Using JavaScript, individuals draw complex designs that require additional commands and parameters defined in the...
Code.org
Looping and Random Numbers
Repetition, repetition, repetition. Get your class to efficiently repeat a section of code over and over again by introducing looping. Class members learn looping to quickly recreate objects they want to appear more than once in their...
Curated OER
Solving a Simple Maze
It is a-maze-ing how lost one can get. Teams reconstruct a simple maze and solve it. Participants create an algorithm that a robot would follow in order to solve the maze as well. The activity includes an extension directing pupils to...
Teach Engineering
Design Step 2: Research the Problem
How do you get started designing a product to meet your engineering design goals? Here, learners gain understanding of an important aspect of the engineering design process: background research. Through brainstorming and worksheets,...
TryEngineering
Program Your Own Game
Young computer scientists get to see what it's like to be a software engineer as they use free online software to design a computer game. They play and evaluate games groups created to round out the activity.
Kenan Fellows
Detecting Rise in Body Temperature in Human and Animals and its Effects on Health
Beat the heat using sensors. Scholars research normal body temperatures for humans and a specific animal. In groups, they create sensors that monitor body temperature, as well as the weather. The goal is to reduce the occurrence of heat...