Celebrate Computer Science Education Week, December 6-12, 2021

Computer Science Education Week
December 6-12, 2021

The theme this year is CS is Everywhere!

Below are some simple, short activities that integrate the arts and computer science. They are available throughout the year, so if they can't be used next week, they can be used at another more appropriate time. They require no previous CS experience. None of these activities require a login (although some will request that you do).

Robogarden STEAM--Art -- Grades 2-5. Looking for an easy and intuitive way to teach your students to code? RoboGarden STEAM has fused code practice with STEAM learning and gamified missions in multiple activities. In the art activity, the student understands color mixing concepts while using coding blocks to solve challenges at the birthday party.

Poem Art -- Grades 2-8. In this CS and ELA integrated lesson, students will animate a poem with code to illustrate the mood of a poem. Students will read and detect the mood of a poem. They will then find corresponding effects and images to help illustrate the poem's mood. Finally, students will use events (code) to illustrate a shift in mood or animate the introduction of new images in a poem. Teachers notes available.

BlocksCAD Robot -- Grades 2-8. Available in multiple languages. Using BlocksCAD, a free online software designed to teach students coding and Computer Aided Design, students will design a 3D Robot. Using shapes, translate, and rotate blocks, students will be exposed to computational thinking to construct something they can 3D print!

Play that Tune App--Grades 6+. A blocks language is used to solve musical puzzles by writing code to match tunes played on a piano keyboard. Sequence, selection, and repetition algorithms are needed to solve the puzzles. After the 9th level, users can create their own tune and download it as an app for an Android device. Students can also modify the app by following a link to the App Inventor source code.Teacher notes available.

Many additional activities are available here, and posters of the diversity of fields that CS touches are available here.