Computational Thinking
Computational Thinking is designed to introduce students to computational thinking skills and processes needed for the cybersecurity world through discipline-specific projects. Each lesson integrates computational thinking skills (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design) with design processes through problem-based projects. This resource empowers students to use computational thinking skills and practices to create computational artifacts in cybersecurity, computer science, math, science, and the humanities.
Students will look at everyday objects and represent them as fractions.
Grades Levels: 3
Students will be presented with images of decomposed fractions (both concrete and pictorial models) and will abstract the rules of decomposing and summing fractions.
Grades Levels: 4
Students will use computational thinking skills to explore coordinate planes and ordered pairs.
Grades Levels: 5
In this module, students will investigate life cycles of animals and plants. Students will explore characteristics that contribute to the growth and development of a plant and animal and the stages from seed to flowering plant or egg/baby to adult.
Grades Levels: 3
In this module, students will write a set of rules for identification of conductors and insulators of electricity. Students will apply their conductivity rules to build a working battery from available materials.
Grades Levels: 4
Students will use computational thinking skills to explore series and parallel circuits.
Grades Levels: 5
Students will sequence and summarize a plot’s main events and explain their influence on future events.
Grades Levels: 3
Students will create a brief composition that include a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a conclusion.
Grades Levels: 4
Students will explore how songwriters use the structure and elements of poetry to write song lyrics.
Grades Levels: 5
This unit explores computational thinking in math by investigating engineering statistics. Students will analyze the network speeds in the school.
Grades Levels: 6
This unit explores computational thinking in math by investigating statistics. Students will analyze a typical shoe in the class.
Grades Levels: 6
Students will design a scale model of a delivery drone payload using computational thinking skills, the Engineering Design Process, and Grade 7 mathematics.
Grades Levels: 7
Students will experimentally determine the slopes needed for a marble to make it through various challenges in the coaster (i.e., loop and curves).
Grades Levels: 8
Students will design, create, and test food web models to determine what impact, if any, removing mosquitoes will have.
Grades Levels: 6
Students will create a visual representation showing the levels of organization of the keystone species to determine what impact, if any, removing the species will have on the ecosystem.
Grades Levels: 6
Students will design, build, and test a paper airplane to see which one flies the farthest. Students will record data from their prototype test flights in a table and then provide detailed written instructions on how to fold the paper airplane.
Grades Levels: 7
Students will design, create, and test energy transfer models to determine the impact of the rabbit on energy flow.
Grades Levels: 7
Students will design, create, and test a model to determine what impact, if any, parts of the fracking process have on ground faults.
Grades Levels: 8
Students will analyze data to recognize patterns of star type given the absolute magnitude and surface temperature.
Grades Levels: 8
Using computational thinking, students will design and interpret the graph to identify key characters and their interactions in the story.
Grades Levels: 6
Using computational thinking, students will understand the theme of the Declaration of Independence and will identify major ideas through word choice.
Grades Levels: 7
Using computational thinking, students will understand the theme of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” and will identify significant ideas through word choice.
Grades Levels: 7
Using computational thinking, students will select and research an event in history, map the high and low points of that event as though it were a story, identify one change to make in that event which would alter the story, then design and write the altered version as a short story or play.
Grades Levels: 8
Using computational thinking, students will select a classic fairytale and map the high and low points of the story, identify one change to make in the storyline that would alter the ending, then design and write the altered version as a short story or play.
Grades Levels: 8
This unit introduces students to computational thinking (CT) through humanities. Students will learn the four pillars of CT (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design) and their supporting skills by playing cooperative games. Students will then begin to develop their CT skills by solving humanities-based problems of increasing complexity, using the design process as a framework to approach these problems. In this unit students will create a literary meme, compose a historic rap battle, draft a sonnet, write a graphic novel mystery, design an emergency preparedness game for children, and propose a solution to one of history’s mysteries.
Grades Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12
This unit continues students’ understanding of computational thinking (CT) by having them apply computational thinking skills to problems in mathematics and software engineering. The framework students will use to accomplish this is the software development process.
Grades Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12
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This unit continues students’ understanding of computational thinking by having them apply computational thinking skills and processes to problems in science and engineering. The framework students will use to accomplish this is the engineering design process and the scientific method.
Grades Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12