Computer Science Discoveries (CS Discoveries) is an introductory computer science course that empowers students to create authentic artifacts and engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun.
*CSD is a full-year introductory computer science survey course (can be implemented as two standalone semesters) targeted at upper middle school and lower high school (grades 7-9). The course takes a wide lens on computer science by covering topics such as programming, physical computing, HTML/CSS, and data. Students are empowered to create authentic artifacts and engage with CS as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun.
Unit 1: Problem Solving
Unit 1 is a highly interactive and collaborative introduction to the field of computer science, as framed within the broader pursuit of solving problems. Through a series of puzzles, challenges, and real world scenarios, students are introduced to a problem solving process that they will return to repeatedly throughout the course. Students then learn how computers input, output, store, and process information to help humans solve problems. The unit concludes with students designing an application that helps solve a problem of their choosing.
Unit 2: Web Development
In Unit 2, students are empowered to create and share the content on their own web pages. They begin by thinking about the role of the web, and how it can be used as a medium for creative expression. As students develop their pages and begin to see themselves as programmers, they are encouraged think critically about the impact of sharing information online and how to be more critical content consumers. They are also introduced to problem solving as it relates to programming, as they learn valuable skills such as debugging, commenting, and structure of language. At the conclusion of the unit, students compile their work to create a personal website they can publish and share.
Unit 3: Animation and Games
In Unit 3, students build on their coding experience as they create programmatic images, animations, interactive art, and games. Starting off with simple, primitive shapes and building up to more sophisticated sprite-based games, students become familiar with the programming concepts and the design process computer scientists use daily. They then learn how these simpler constructs can be combined to create more complex programs. In the final project, students develop a personalized, interactive program. Along the way, they practice design, testing, and iteration, as they come to see that failure and debugging are an expected and valuable part of the programming process.
Unit 4: The Design Process
Unit 4 transitions students from thinking about computer science as a tool to solve their own problems towards considering the broader social impacts of computing. Through a series of design challenges, students are asked to consider and understand the needs of others while developing a solution to a problem. The second half of the unit consists of an iterative team project, during which students have the opportunity to identify a need that they care about, prototype solutions both on paper and in App Lab, and test their solutions with real users to get feedback and drive further iteration.
Unit 5: Data and Society
Unit 5 is about the importance of data in solving problems and highlights how computers can help in this process. The first chapter explores different systems used to represent information in a computer and the challenges and tradeoffs posed by using them. In the second chapter students learn how collections of data are used to solve problems, and how computers help to automate the steps of this process. The chapter concludes by considering how the data problem solving process can be applied to an area of the students’ choosing.
Unit 6: Physical Computing
In Unit 6, students further develop their programming skills while exploring the role of hardware platforms in computing. Harkening back to the Input and Output elements of the Input/Storage/Processing/Output model for a computing, students look towards current and “smart” devices to understand the ways in which different sensors can provide more effective input and output than the traditional keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Using App Lab and Adafruit’s Circuit Playground, students develop programs that utilize the same hardware inputs and outputs that students saw in the smart devices they explored earlier, and they get to see how a simple rough prototype can lead to a finished product. The unit concludes with a design challenge that asks students to use the Circuit Playground as the basis for an innovation of their own design.
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