Computational thinking copy (1)
- 1. Ellen Harp Technology Teacher Brighton Central School District Fun, Free Resources for Computational Thinking
- 2. Critic: “Free? What’s the catch?” Cynic: “CT - another buzzword?” Pragmatist: “How will CT get students’ scores and my APPR rating up?” Your Name July 2019
- 3. What are “Free Resources”? • “Gifts”: Things given that I can keep • “Loans”: Things I borrow and give back • “Found Money”: (Ex. Shipping damage, Spectrum) • “Swag”: loot from a company • “Free trial”: software or products intended to lure • “Open Source” • Leftovers that no one wants
- 5. Goal of Computational Thinking in Education and Life CT Education/ Experience
- 6. CT in the NGSS PL: Note student-definition
- 7. Decomposition in the classroom = Break down a problem into parts Goal: find piece-wise solutions which inform the whole • Step A: identify sub-problems • Step B: Put the parts together • Step C: Evaluate the system as a sum of the parts
- 8. Abstraction = Identify general principles through observation Goal: Find main features and hide details to propose an overarching solution The concrete operational stage (Piaget): • Ages 7 to 11 • Logical thought slowly emerges • Children struggle to abstract Hydroponics
- 9. Pattern Recognition = Identify patterns in a set of data Goal: Increase efficiency by using sub-problems • Example: add all numbers between 1 and 200 in 60 seconds
- 10. Technique: Pair Numbers 1 to 10 Pairing numbers is a common approach to this problem. Instead of writing all the numbers in a single column, wrap the numbers around, like this: 1 2 3 4 5 10 9 8 7 6 A pattern emerges: the sum of each column is 11. As the top row increases, the bottom row decreases, so the sum stays the same. Because 1 is paired with 10 (= n), we can say that each column has (n+1) for the sum. How many pairs do we have? We have 2 equal rows so we must have n/2 pairs. which is the formula above.
- 11. Pattern Recognition Activities • Paper cubes • Dice • Rubik's Cubes • Drawing cubes: Orthographic projection • Google SketchUp • AutoDesk free CAD • SketchUp Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=RXIjCf8Af-M • “Design and Drawing for Production” (https://www.youcandothecube.com/) (Tactile cubes)
- 13. Algorithmic Thinking I = Step-by-step instructions = Conditional actions Hands-on/Hardware • Binary bracelets • Playdough Circuits with LEDs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= L8bvNHhlK30 • Thimble® kit • Wearable Technology kit Goal: Follow given instructions Change an instruction and observe Write an instruction for others to follow
- 14. Algorithmic Thinking II Software • Code.org • Virtual VEX • Robotics Club • Adafruit • Apple Grasshopper app • “Game Design” class
- 15. Everything is Open Source!
- 18. Code.org
- 22. Free Resources • Recyclables: Computer boxes Jellyfish, Krill • Borrow: Sphero robots Ozobot class set • Barter: Wonder Workshop • Loan: Rubik's Cubes • Free trial: Padcaster with phone • Virtual: VEX, Arduino, Adafruit • Leftovers: Playdough circuits with LEDs, Snap Circuits • Code.org: Binary bracelets Coding Curriculum • 4H/Cornell Cooperative Extension Youth Science Day: ”Incredible Wearables” Rockets, Drones Energy bike Robots to borrow • Khan Academy: "Algorithms“ • Apple app: “Grasshopper”
Editor's Notes
- #12: “The SketchUp Pro Statewide License Grant Program provides access to SketchUp Pro, at no cost, to qualifying K-12 public schools.”