Feel the world and build it
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Computer Science and Engineering in Elementary?
Without a doubt.
Introducing computer science and engineering to children early develops an understanding of the world around them and how to improve it. Exposure to both in elementary ensures more equity in learning as children start to gain awareness and interest in STEM early on. This early exposure can help put them a STEM learning pathway and lead to future careers that they might not have considered.
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Designing Solar Ovens
IIn Botswana, where firewood for cooking fuel is in short supply, people are turning to a renewable energy source—the Sun! The storybook Lerato Cooks Up a Plan sets this real-world context for the unit’s activities and introduces the field of green engineering. Students explore the science concepts of thermal insulators and thermal conductors, then test different materials to find the best insulators for their own solar ovens. They analyze the product life cycle and environmental impacts of each insulator, then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve their solar ovens and do some solar cooking!
Designing Computer Games
Interactive computer games are powerful tools for learning. In the story Lerato’s Playful Program, Lerato designs a computer game to help her neighbors recognize the positive environmental impact of choosing to cook with solar ovens. Students explore the programming language Scratch, and then use it to design a practice computer game. For their final design project, students choose an environmental issue and then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve a game that helps players learn about the environmental consequences of their choices. Students extend their computational thinking skills to mathematical concepts as they practice multiplying fractions.
Cleaning an Oil Spill
An oil spill can be deadly for fish, plants, and other organisms in a river ecosystem. In the storybook Tehya’s Pollution Solution, students find out how environmental engineers respond to an oil spill on the Elwha River in the Pacific Northwest by containing and cleaning it. Applying their knowledge of ecosystems and food webs, students test water quality and the oil-absorbing properties of different materials. They then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve a process for cleaning up their own model oil spill.
Analyzing Digital Games
The Elwha Dam has been removed! In the story Tehya’s Pixels Program, a computer-aided analysis of Tehya’s digital photos helps scientists observe the restoration of the river’s ecosystem. Students learn how computers use numbers to represent colors in digital images. They investigate how to use the programming language Scratch to analyze images themselves. Students then follow the steps of the Engineering Design Process to imagine, plan, create, and improve a program that monitors an ecosystem using digital images. Students extend their computational thinking skills to mathematical concepts as they practice multiplying decimals.
Spike Robotics: Life Hacks
Is anything in your life that could benefit from a hack? What if that hack could help you see data? Or train your body, plan your fee time, sharpen your mind...anything! Just Hack It.
You will create clearly name variables and listed different data types and perform basic math operations on their values. You will learn how to make cloud data useful and reliable improve your programs to refine a solution, and design projects that combine hardware and software components to collect and change data.
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Spike Robotics: Invention Squad
Inventing Stuffs? Fixing Stuffs? Always helping people with ideas? Then you might be an elite member of Invention Squad. You will apply your engineering design skills to each step of the design process by defining a problem and success criteria, making different prototypes, establishing systematic testing procedures, analyzing data to improve your solutions, and describing why your solution is the best.
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Sphero Bolt 1 & 2
Students will learn computer science and STEAM principles alongside Sphero Robots. We will start with logic and sequencing, work the way up to advanced Block programming, and with a basic understanding of JavaScript. By the end of course, students will be able to:
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Create, manipulate, and sequence movement, lights and sound Block
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Create Block programs with 1 to 2 simple controls, including loop forever,..
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Display a basic understanding of how 1-2 more complex controls, including if/else affect programs
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Explain how conditionals use sensors, comparators, and operators to make decisions
Singapore Math
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Learn to think mathematically and rely on the depth of knowledge gained in previous lessons
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Practice reading contents and learning from the world’s most trusted providers
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Enjoy The Singapore math - a highly effective and focused on mastery method , which is achieved through intentional sequencing of concept
Book Reports
To write a book report is a way to tell others about a book you've read. But what makes a good book report? We will learn how to write an effective book report and the elements of Book Report share. We will read several books together and students will choose books to share and write.
Speech and Debate + Writing
Debate: Students will learn the combination of basic impromptu debates and later advanced debate for Congressional, Parliamentary and Public Forum styles, students will grow accustomed to debate basics and will be repeatedly exposed to advanced debate skills.
Writing: Students will be tasked with responding to several different persuasive writing prompts on a weekly basis. They will be exposed to current events in the news, moral/value issues facing society, as well as movies/television and other media in current popular culture via videos, readings, and class discussions. After which they will be asked to share their thoughts/opinions via free writes/responses or reviews, or take a position on an issue and construct arguments. Students submit their writing assignments for feedback/grading through Google Docs & Google Classroom.
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