Activity
Beauty and Joy of Computing

Conditional Blocks

For Students 9th - 12th
If you use the resource, then pupils will understand conditional block instructions. In the first lab of a six-part unit, pupils learn how to use conditional statements (if/then) in block instructions for computer programming. They apply...
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.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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. 
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...