Learn How Easy It Can Be To Create Your Own Computer Program!
Beckwith Middle School & Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School Students demonstrate and help students learn how to use Scratch programming software at the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional STEAMposium 2018
Students at Beckwith Middle School will develop their Digital Literacy & Computer Science skills and knowledge using a variety of technology tools as part of the "Computer Essentials" trimester curriculum for grades 5-8. In grades 6-8, students will explore introductory-level computer science programming that does not require any prior experience in programming. Students will learn and apply computer science programming concepts by using a visual, object-oriented programming language (VPL).
Students will program scripts to create shapes, characters, and objects that move and interact with each other to make their own animations and animated stories, including sound effects, audio and music. As students continue to develop their programming skills, they will learn to program more complex coding scripts to create their own simple interactive games.
The computer science programming concepts learned can be applied to learning more advanced syntax programming languages in future courses in high school and beyond. Computer Science programming skills learned include: computational thinking (sequence, loops, parallelism, events, conditional, operators, data) and computational thinking practices (experimenting and iterating, testing and debugging, reusing and remixing, abstracting and modularizing). The skills and knowledge learned align with the MA Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards and the National Computer Science Standards.
Students will program scripts to create shapes, characters, and objects that move and interact with each other to make their own animations and animated stories, including sound effects, audio and music. As students continue to develop their programming skills, they will learn to program more complex coding scripts to create their own simple interactive games.
The computer science programming concepts learned can be applied to learning more advanced syntax programming languages in future courses in high school and beyond. Computer Science programming skills learned include: computational thinking (sequence, loops, parallelism, events, conditional, operators, data) and computational thinking practices (experimenting and iterating, testing and debugging, reusing and remixing, abstracting and modularizing). The skills and knowledge learned align with the MA Digital Literacy and Computer Science Standards and the National Computer Science Standards.
- MA Digital Literacy & Computer Science Standards: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/dlcs.pdf
- Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) K-12 Computer Science Standards: https://www.csteachers.org/Page/standards
What are Computational Thinking Skills & How Can We Determine if Students Have Achieved these Skills?
Computational Thinking Skills are critical skills needed to for Computer Science & Programming. According to the creators of MIT Scratch & The Harvard Graduate School, Computational Thinking involves 3 key areas: (1) computational concepts, (2) computational practices, and (3) computational perspectives.
COMPUTATIONAL CONCEPTS:
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COMPUTATIONAL PRACTICES:
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COMPUTATIONAL PERSPECTIVES:
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Introduction to Computer Science
Watch the "Making Ideas Into Reality at MIT Media Lab" video from the T.V. show, "60 Minutes" & be inspired!
Interested in Coding? Get Started by Exploring the Resources Below:
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Computer Science Instructional Resources: |