Elementary Computer Science
Virtual PLG Meeting #1
Link: uatim.org/plgs
Email: RMayben@ua.edu�Site: uatim.org�Twitter: @RMayben9
ATiM Twitter: @atimpd�
T H E L A S T A T i M
ATIM
#ATiMPD
Find your ATiM Specialist by your Region
1 - University of North Alabama
5 - University of Alabama Birmingham
6 - Jacksonville State University
Quick Poll
Who is here?
Quick Discussion
How is your school/district implementing elementary CS?
1 Minute Warm Up
Think of your favorite lesson to teach.
As we go through today, think of how computational thinking fits into it.
It’s True! OR Fake News?
Computational thinking is only used in computer science.
It’s True! OR Fake News?
Computational thinking is all about coding.
It’s True! OR Fake News?
Computational thinking is a computer skill.
It’s True! OR Fake News?
Computer Science standards are the responsibility of all teachers.
It’s True! OR Fake News?
Computational thinking is an interrelated set of skills and practices for solving complex problems, a way to learn topics in many disciplines, and a necessity for fully participating in a computational world.
It’s True! OR Fake News?
Students will need computational thinking skills in order to succeed in the modern workforce.
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Why is this important for my students?
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Strategies like abstracting out a common solution to many problems and testing out a hypothesis are useful in every profession.
Computational thinking helps students live robust and productive lives by giving them tools that help them solve problems and showing them how they have the agency to make an impact on issues that matter to them.
The Law
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Implementation
Each public elementary school (K-6) shall offer instruction on the basics of CS and computational thinking.
Each public middle school (grades 7-8) shall offer instruction in middle school CS courses.
Each public high school (grades 9-12) shall offer at least one authentic CS course.
2021-2022
2022-2023
2020-2021
Elementary Implementation
From CS4Alabama:
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Elementary Implementation
According to CS4alabama.org, school systems will be required to report:
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Let’s Dive Into Computational Thinking!
Decomposition
Think about the activities that you currently use and the standards that you address in any subject in your classroom. Can you make a connection between one of the applications above? Take a minute to chat with your neighbor.
Making Specific Connections�Source
How to clean your teeth?
Goal: List the components involved in solving the problem.�
Not: The steps (that comes later in the process)
Let’s decompose this problem…
Let’s decompose this problem…
What activities and/or standards do you already teach that involve decomposition?
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Pattern Recognition
Think about the activities that you currently use and the standards that you address in any subject in your classroom. Can you make a connection between one of the applications above? Take a minute to chat with your neighbor.
Find the pattern…
What do these elephants have in common? (Find the pattern?)
Remember this…
Remember this…
This pattern helps to solve the larger problem.
What activities and/or standards do you already teach that involve patterns?
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Abstraction
with the
Mad Abstractor!
Task:
Rules:
WARM UP!
DISCUSS
LET’S ABSTRACT!
LET’S ABSTRACT!
Problem Solved!
Abstraction - Basic Definition
Tell me what you had for waffles this morning.
Did you see what I was doing?
What could I have said so that more people would have understood?
I identified my experience in a very specific manner, and that made it more difficult to relate to.
Breakfast is a variable to hold space for what we ate this morning.
By taking the specific word out and replacing the space it leaves with ‘breakfast,’ we are using abstraction to make something work for multiple people.
Can you �think of any other examples?
Mad Breakout
This slide is blank for a reason.
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3
4
5
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Lesson Wrap-Up
Modified from Abstraction with Mad Glibs | Lesson Video
Exit Ticket Ideas
Abstraction - Deeper Understanding
Making Connections
To the Alabama Course of Study via�
Look at the standards for your grade level.
Are you already teaching this through another subject?
Review - Think about the activities that you currently use and the standards that you address in any subject in your classroom. Can you make a connection between one of the applications above? Chat with your neighbor.
Making Connections
Making Specific Connections�Source
K-2 - Standard 1�
Create and sort information into useful order using digital tools.
Litter Critters - Recycling Sorting Game
Making Specific Connections
Teaching Abstraction
Abstraction is focusing on the information that is relevant and important. It involves separating core information from extraneous details.
Ideas to Try: In primary classrooms, teachers naturally teach kids the concept of abstraction with literature as they identify the main idea and key details. To take this one step further, teachers can encourage students to hunt for information, clues, or treasures by giving them a goal as they approach a book or even an experience. As students listen to a speaker during a school presentation about dental hygiene, a kindergarten class might be hunting for details about brushing your teeth. By teaching students abstraction, they are able to sort through all of the information available to identify the specific information they need. This is an invaluable skill as students read larger texts and are presented with more and more complex information.
Source: Early Learning Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking Skills
Making Specific Connections
Through the process of abstraction, a programmer hides all but the relevant data about an object in order to reduce complexity and increase efficiency. In the same way that abstraction sometimes works in art, the object that remains is a representation of the original, with unwanted detail omitted.
Source: Tech Target
Abstractions
Algorithms
Are students reducing complexity by removing unnecessary detail?
Are students choosing a way to represent information/ideas/concepts, to allow for easier understanding?
Are students choosing a way to represent information/ideas/concepts, to allow it to be manipulated in useful ways?
Are students identifying relationships between different representations of information/ideas/concepts?
Implementation Planning Questions
Making It All Connect
Read this short article.
Big-Picture Learning: Using Abstraction in the Classroom
Chat with your neighbor why you think Abstraction is an important skill for our students to learn.
What activities and/or standards do you already teach that involve abstraction?
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Algorithms
Algorithms
An algorithm is a set of guidelines that describes how to perform a task. Think of an algorithm as step-by-step instructions that create a predictable pattern in a set of numbers or in lines of code.
The order of operations for long division is as follows:
Divide
Multiply
Subtract
Drop to the next digit
Think about the activities that you currently use and the standards that you address in any subject in your classroom. Can you make a connection between one of the applications above? Take a minute to chat with your neighbor.
Model Activity - Time Permitting
Algorithms
When well-designed, algorithms should accomplish three objectives:
1.Correctly accomplish a task.
2.Efficiently “crunch” the information at hand.
3.Present the results in a way another person can understand.
Let’s Explore Some Ideas
Example #2
Directions: Create a flight plan for the drone to make it to the hospital.Try to avoid danger by not flying over the lake and through the forest.
Use words forward,backwards, turn left, turn right to list the path you would take.
Forest
Lake
Grade 3-5
Teaching using Pseudocode
From Pseudocode to Blockly Code
Grade 3-5
Algorithms Grades K-2
BeeBots are a favorite robot for primary grades.
What activities and/or standards do you already teach that involve algorithmic thinking?
Are students developing instructions to accomplish a task?
Are students developing instructions to be followed in a given order (sequence)?
Are students developing instructions that use arithmetic and logical operations?
Are students writing instructions or designing flow charts that choose between different paths (selection)?
Are students writing instructions that repeat groups of instructions (loops/iteration)?
Are students creating a set of steps to test a hypothesis?
Are students creating writing descriptions of real world processes so as to better understand them (modelling)?
Implementation Planning Questions
Wrap Up
Computational Thinking
Why is it important?
Quick Review
Questions?
Resources
Connecting Computer Science Across the K-5 Curriculum
Link: uatim.org/workshops
Bonus Materials
CS Stations
Enhance Student Engagement with Robotics while meeting standards!
Code & Go Mouse
Bee Bot or
Blue Bot
Ozobot
Dash & Dot
Sphero
Using Books to Make Literacy Connections
#1 Dash Saves the Day!
#2 Secure the Perimeter!
Using the Sphero EDU app, click programs, and then:
#3 Code-a-Pillar C & A
Use the cause & effect lesson sheet for instructions.
#4 Hop to It!
Use the Code Hopper to design an active game for your students.
This would be an easy way to bring coding to recess or PE!�
This would also be an easy one to DIY!
#5 Drone Mountain Rescue