CS and Computational Thinking

Understanding computers and learning the basics of coding helps children to develop an appreciation of how things work. It teaches them how software engineers use math and coding language to solve problems logically and creatively. Students can also strengthen 21st-century skills such as algorithmic thinking, creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving through coding. 

"Teaching computer science and other STEM-related courses is an essential component to any child's education. That's why Iowa is preparing our young people for success in cutting-edge careers with programs like this." - Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, July 17, 2019.

"Computational thinking (CT) is a problem-solving process in which people formulate problems or instructions so that a computer [or human] can solve or implement them" (ISTE, CSTA, 2016).

The Purpose

According to the Vision for Computer Science by the Iowa Department of Education  All Iowa students will engage in the concepts and practices of computer science through an intentional progression of experiences in order to prepare them to become enterprising citizens that positively impact society

The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to create a fun, age-appropriate, student-centered, unit theme-related activity that will help you practice skills related to computational thinking and computer science.

By completing the series of scaffolded activities and the hands on projects, you will be able to:

Scaffolding - method in which teachers break up learning into smaller, increasingly complex steps and guide students as they learn and develop a new concept or skill. The activities progressively move students toward greater independence and understanding. 

• Connect  Computer Science standards for K-12 to the school curriculum
• Develop an understanding of computational thinking and its application as a cross-curricular skill
• Analyze Computational Thinking concepts  to support students' literacy, critical thinking, thinking, creativity, design,, collaboration, and problem-solving.
• Develop resilience and perseverance when approaching CS and CT learning experiences, build comfort with ambiguity and open-ended problems, and see failure as an opportunity to learn and innovate.
• Locate relevant age-appropriate coding activities across multiple subject areas
• Support algorithmic thinking with a flowchart
• Design with the block-based programming language
• Implement basic coding vocabulary and concepts such as algorithms, flowcharts, decomposition, sequence, loops, branching, debugging, and variables in all subjects learning.

This project is aligned with the following standards:

• ISTE Standards for Educators: 2.1ac, 2.2abc, 2.5abc, 2.6acd, 2.7
• ISTE Standards for Students: 1.1 acd, 1.3 cd, 1.4acd, 1.5cd, 1.6b
• InTASC Standards for Pre-Service Teachers: 1b,d,g; 4,l; 5s; 7 c, h; 8l,r
  
• ISTE Computational Thinking Competencies

Activities and Assignments

This page is a starting point for the Computer Science Unit introduction. During this unit, we will have fun while learning how to bring concepts of computer science and computational thinking into your classrooms. For the next few weeks we will be

• analyzing books that connect literacy with concepts of computational thinking and coding
• playing with various unplugged activities
  • The game with no rules
  • The Exact Instructions Drawing
• playing with coding apps, and robots
• design Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) activity
• complete Hour of Code Certificate
• design block coding activity with Scratch

Every activity has to support some concept from your unit theme and some standard-related skills described in your thematic unit. 

NOTE: For consistency, the major graded projects in this unit: The CYOA project and Scratch final projects are organized in separate folders in our Cource Content > Class Projects Labs in eLearning.