In the computer-based Ancient Civilizations activity, students create their own civilization and see how it fares over the years based on choices they make for location, animals, plants and materials. Students trade resources between their civilizations, repeatedly go to war with unnamed enemies, and learn some fun facts about real-world ancient civilizations along the way. This activity was inspired by Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

In the paper-based Ancient Civilizations activity, students create their own civilization and see how it fares over the years based on choices they make for location, animals, plants and natural resources. Students create an artistic rendering of their civilization, trade resources between their civilizations and go to war with an unnamed enemy. This activity was inspired by Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

In the Basketball Motion Analysis lesson, students use decomposition to break down a specific LeBron James play from the 2015 NBA Finals. Students practice drawing and interpreting speed graphs, as well as discuss whether computers and data can replace human basketball coaches. This lesson was inspired by a post by Savvas Tjortjoglou.

In the Body System Amusement Parks project, students team up to create amusement parks based on the various systems and organs within the human body. With the power of abstraction, each attraction represents the cardiovascular system, the muscular system, the digestive system, etc. Teams create both 3D scale models and presentations to an unnamed wealthy investment firm looking to build a new park in the students’ very own town. This activity was heavily inspired by a post from Danielle Dace.

In the Body System Amusement Parks project, students team up to create amusement parks based on the various systems and organs within the human body. With the power of abstraction, each attraction represents the cardiovascular system, the muscular system, the digestive system, etc. Teams create both 3D scale models and presentations to an unnamed wealthy investment firm looking to build a new park in the students’ very own town. This activity was heavily inspired by a post from Danielle Dace.

In the Body System Amusement Parks project, students team up to create amusement parks based on the various systems and organs within the human body. With the power of abstraction, each attraction represents the cardiovascular system, the muscular system, the digestive system, etc. Teams create both 3D scale models and presentations to an unnamed wealthy investment firm looking to build a new park in the students’ very own town. This activity was heavily inspired by a post from Danielle Dace.

In the Body System Amusement Parks project, students team up to create amusement parks based on the various systems and organs within the human body. With the power of abstraction, each attraction represents the cardiovascular system, the muscular system, the digestive system, etc. Teams create both 3D scale models and presentations to an unnamed wealthy investment firm looking to build a new park in the students’ very own town. This activity was heavily inspired by a post from Danielle Dace.

Using this lesson worksheet, computers and a simple programming interface, students step through and build a simple program to sequentially calculate all of the variables in the Hardy Weinberg equations. By building the program in sequence it is hoped that students will learn the sequence to solve a Hardy Weinberg problem and appreciate the value and power of computer number crunching capabilities as well as sequential programming considerations.

By building a program to determine the valence of ANY element on the first three rows of the Periodic table, students learn the steps to solve the problem while learning how to program logic and think about processing data in sequence. NOTE: The worksheet includes the option of letting students create a bug that they have to fix.

This module connections computational thinking and computer science with English Language Arts skills. In total, the module should take approximately 30 minutes to view and review. Reflection and the creation of one's own activities or lesson plans may vary following the viewing on the module. 

Topic: How to use the Dash Robot to answer math questions?

This is w whole week lesson plan that helps to teach kindergarten students addition and subtraction, color, shape, direction, and how to operate the Dash Robot. Students will be able to develop computational thinking skills in algorithm and deconstructing problems.

This is a lesson plan designed for 3rd-5th graders that focuses on the core concepts of robots and what it takes to code them. Students build an understanding of algorithms and how to write a sequence of steps in order to accomplish a task. The lesson plan includes four vocabulary words that are regularly used in the lesson, a group Kahoot game to master these words, and instructions and handouts for a "code your friend" game where students get to pretend to be the robot.

The lesson takes 45 minutes.

Vocabulary:
Algorithm: a list of steps to finish a task
Program: an algorithm that has been coded into something that can be run by a machine
Bug: part of a program that does not work correctly
Debugging: finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program

Resources (also included in the plan)
Nearpod Presentation
https://share.nearpod.com/qlLTPeI79R
Kahoot Vocab
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/9d5000e6-5412-4776-8bd8-54a5962ccca1
Stacking Cup Ideas Handout
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nhgt_BfbOmj4lCrcYRC5_QdXsbUbUnNbrMTK9qyFpmE/edit?usp=sharing

Standards:
3-5.DI.2 Develop a simple understanding of an algorithm (e.g., search, sequence of events, or
sorting) using computer-free exercises.

3-5.DI.1 Understand and use the basic steps in algorithmic problem solving (e.g., problem
statement and exploration, examination of sample instances, design, implementation, and
testing).

3-5.CD.2 Understand the pervasiveness of computers and computing in daily life (e.g., voicemail,
downloading videos and audio files, microwave ovens, thermostats, wireless Internet, mobile
computing devices, GPS systems).

Dana Alexander: educdamaalex@gmail.comJosie Wilson: educjosiwils@gmail.comAnnie Llewellyn: annllewe@iu.eduTitle: Computational Thinking lesson planGrade: 2nd GradeOverall Goal: The overall goal for this unit is for students to be able to understand the difference between different political leaders. The students will be able to differentiate between each kind of political leader in a community, identify the rights given to them by the government, and understand the importance of having a government. Students will play a game using the beebots to help them better understand these subjects.  StandardsLearning ObjectiveAssessment2.2.3 Identify community leaders, such as the mayor and city council.1. Students will be able to identify and describe important community leaders.2. Students will be able to understand the difference between each type of community leaderUsing the beebot to find the correct description of the community leader in game 2.2.1 Explain that the United States government is founded on the belief of equal rights for its citizens*. Example: People have the right to own property and the right of free speech. * citizen: someone with rights and responsibilities in a particular community, city, state or country3. Students will be able to identify rights given to citizens by the government.Using the beebot to find the find the correct right given to citizens in game2.2 Understand and explain why it is important for a community to have responsible government. Example: Government provides order, protects individual rights and property, provides services such as mail delivery, and helps people feel safe.4. Students will be able to explain the importance of having a government.A test   Key Terms & Definitions: President: A person who is elected by US citizens to be the leader of our country. Vice President: A person who is ready to take over if something were to happen to the President. Mayor: An elected leader to run the local government for a certain city. They are in charge of enforcing laws, managing city businesses, and presiding over city meetings. Freedom of speech: The right to be able to speak and express your opinions.Freedom of religion: The right to worship based on what your beliefs are.   Lesson Introduction (Hook, Grabber): The instructor will start the lesson off with a kahoot to see what the kids know before the lesson. The instructor will then play a Youtube video that introduces different types of political leaders, their roles, and importance.The video is a good introduction to what is the difference between the types of political leaders and into what exactly the government does. The students will be asked some questions such as:who are the important leaders in our community?What is the difference between between each type of government official?What is the role of each government official?Why is the government important?By asking the students these questions, they will be able to get better engaged into the topic and hopefully understand a little more about how their government works. They will also get to learn about the basic things the lesson will be over.  Lesson Main: The instructor will split the students into groups of four to play a game. The instructor will show the students a video-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgvEfoqwNA on how to play and explain the rules(there is also a rule sheet in the artifacts). They will also be shown a powerpoint on how to use the beebot(in artifacts). The game will have different questions describing either a type of community leader or a right that is given to citizens. The answers to the questions will be laid out on a board, and the students must program a beebot to find the correct answer. The game is finished once each of the questions has been answered. By using the beebot, it makes this activity more hands-on and lets students learn about computational thinking skills and learn about the government at the same time.   Lesson Ending: Once the students have finished the game, they will all go back to their desks and sit down. The class will have a discussion about what they learned. The teacher will have the students talk about what they learned and answer any questions that the students might have. Once they have finished with the discussion, the teacher will then pass around a test in order to see what knowledge the students have gained. This section should describe how you plan on wrapping up your lesson, and bringing it to a close.  This could include a final, summative assessment as well.  Assessment Rubric: GreatAveragePoorSubject KnowledgeStudent demonstrates full knowledge by answering all the questions correctly with explanations.Student answer correctly, but is not able to elaborate or explain their answer.Student does not answer correctly and does not have an understanding of the topic.BehaviorStudent stayed on track and displayed mature behavior.Respectful and followed the rules.Displayed some mature behavior.Inconstancy on focus and adhering to the rules.Rarely stayed on task and kept focus.Ignored rules and boundaries.Classroom interactionExhibits respect for others. Showed leadership and positively interacted with classmates.Inconsistent participation in activity. Demonstrates fair amount of respect for others.Rarely participates in class activity. Unwilling to volunteer and disrespectful to others.AttitudeDisplays consistent positive attitude. Respectful and mindful to others.Displays an inconsistent positive attitude.Unwilling to display a positive attitude. Disrespectful to others.  Resources / Artifacts:Josie’s Artifact- https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XimTyvaQe2qGSglvR6kGM0efarEF0RsuRldk9F3Io08/edit#slide=id.pVideo about game- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgvEfoqwNAAnnie’s Artifact:  https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/94c9fcdb-0d47-4bcf-a988-89d35fac59eaDana’s Artifact: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f8zrdqzY-sNdEVcT16IZTke8D4ZJtPmOLWSDCQ6niKI/edit  Differentiation: Differentiation for ability levels- High ability learners and low ability learners will be paired together in their groups, so that they can help each other outImpaired Vision- The cards with the answers on the game board will be printed in large enough print for students that have impaired vision to read them.      3. Differentiation for languages- Students that speak do not speak english, could be given the job to control the bee-bot, and other students will help point out where to go. Also the game could be modified to where each word has the spanish word for it underneath, so the students can find the correct space to go to without help.      4. Differentiation for access & resources- Students will be given class time to work on the project and use the bee-bots, so they will not have to worry about not having internet access and working on it at home. Anticipated Difficulties: Some anticipated difficulties that might arise could be that students have trouble working with the bee-bot. There will be a powerpoint explaining how to use the bee-bot and the teacher will walk around and help out any students that seem to be having trouble. Also students may get off track when using a fun tool like the bee-bot. The teacher will have to walk around and make sure the groups stay on track when playing the game. References:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgvEfoqwNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qtqHFtTtvwhttps://www.google.com/search?q=bee+bot+pictures&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS748US748&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjro8PUhK3XAhXrzIMKHeOwAQ8Q_AUICygC&biw=1536&bih=759

The lessons posted on this site were designed to engage students with real-world data relevant to content taught in middle school and high school science courses, and to foster an understanding of ways in which they might gather organize, analyze and interpret the data in order to draw scientifically valid inferences, interpretations and conclusions. Most of the labs use computer-based technology of spreadsheet programs or the Python programming interface. The Python lessons guide students in computational thinking to create simple programs to manipulate data. The lessons also provide students (and teachers) with instructions and guidance in the use of these technologies. Teacher and Student worksheets, as well as any supporting files, are linked to from links at the top of each lesson webpage as well as from the downloads page ("downloads" link on the scrolling menu to the left).

Students gain an understanding of the factors that affect wind turbine operation. Following the steps of the engineering design process, engineering teams use simple materials (cardboard and wooden dowels) to build and test their own turbine blade prototypes with the objective of maximizing electrical power output for a hypothetical situation—helping scientists power their electrical devices while doing research on a remote island. Teams explore how blade size, shape, weight and rotation interact to achieve maximal performance, and relate the power generated to energy consumed on a scale that is relevant to them in daily life. A PowerPoint® presentation, worksheet and post-activity test are provided.

EDU 286 is a technology literacy course for current and future educators in PreK-12 at Northland Pioneer College. The course emphasizes skill development and familiarity in e-learning tools, online educational resources, and developmentally effective instructional design, distance learning, and educational technology standards. The following modules from EDU 286 are available as Open Educational Resources in this course: Module 4: Ethical & Responsible Use of Technology in Education and Module 6: Computational Thinking in Education. The OER modules include an introduction, module lessons, optional readings and activities, Module discussion, quiz, and assignment.

Students need to be prepared for college or the workforce. This lesson plan allows students to use the computational thinking process to learn about careers.

Students create a spreadsheet (or use the one provided) to gather planet data and put in categories. They massage spreadsheet to tease out relationship between distance from sun and revolution speed. They use data to predict speed and/or distance for Ceres, the new dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter.