- This file serves as a listing of resources, organizations, tools and programs that could be, are, or were helpful in developing the cirriculum.
- This file should and will evolve with time.
- Code.org is
a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by young women and students from other underrepresented groups. Our vision is that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science as part of their core K-12 education.- Code.org - About - Used code.org tools when volunteering at Seattle Coder Dojo and running the Snohomish County Coder Dojo, very easy to use well put together tooling
- Committed to FREE cirriculum and Open Source - HUGE plus ❤️
- Member of the steering committee that developed the K-12 Computer Science Framework
- Offers a Pre-Reader Express course perfectly targeted to the goals of this cirriculum
- A great resource dedicated to expanding education offering tools for students and teachers across multiple domains like digital literacy, family engagement, and computer science.
- Offers tons of things like CS First, a cirriculum for students 9-14 and grasshopper
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Provides resources to help with teaching computational thinking, most importantly the Computational Thinking for Every Educator cirriculum
The K–12 Computer Science Framework represents a vision in which all students engage in the concepts and practices of computer science. Beginning in the earliest grades and continuing through 12th grade, students will develop a foundation of computer science knowledge and learn new approaches to problem solving that harness the power of computational thinking to become both users and creators of computing technology. K-12 Computer Science Framework - Vision
- Developed by a steering committee including Code.org
- Several Key Principles:
- Broaden participation in computer science
- Focus on the essential
- Do not reinvent the wheel
- Inform with current research and guide future research
- Align to nationally recognized frameworks
- Inspire implementation
- Girls who code is all about closing the gender gap in computer science. Some key information mentioned on the about us page includes:
In 1995, 37% of computer scientists were women. Today, it’s only 24%. The percent will continue to decline if we do nothing. We know that the biggest drop off of girls in computer science is between the ages of 13 and 17. GIRLS WHO CODE IS CHANGING THE GAME...We're reaching girls around the world and are on track to close the gender gap in new entry-level tech jobs by 2030.
- Girls Who Code has 3 main values:
- Bravery
- Sisterhood
- Activism
- Girls who code has a Code at Home cirriculum that could be very useful for this program
- Girls who code also offers the ability to start a camp/club
- beanz is:
a small community of teachers, technologists, and writers who love the challenge of exploring technology in ways kids and non-technical adults enjoy and understand. We try to make technology accessible, friendly, and fun. about beanz magazine
- beanz makes a great list of cirriculum available for free on their site
- beanz releases a magazine (online and print) every other month with a target audience of children over the age of 8. The magazine is published on the following schedule:
- February 1st
- April 1st
- June 1st
- August 1st
- October 1st
- December 1st
- The magazine is entirely reader supported with no advertisements
- The topics explored include:
- Basics of programming and where to learn more
- Problem solving and collaboration
- Mathematical foundations of computing and computer science
- Computational Thinking
- Recognizing and Selecting Computer Devices
- Community, global, and ethical impacts of technology
- The cost of a print magazine is $29.99/year with online included for free, digital only is $15.00/year
- A free resource to help with laying the foundation for computer science in a fun way
CS Unplugged is a collection of free learning activities that teach Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. We originally developed this so that young students could dive head-first into Computer Science, experiencing the kinds of questions and challenges that computer scientists experience, but without having to learn programming first. CS unplugged - about
- This site offers lots of resources on various topics including:
- Binary Numbers
- Error Detection and Correction
- Kidbots
- Sorting Networks
- Searching Algorithims
- ...and more
- There are a ton of free printables
- A network of free, open, and local programming clubs for young children
- Devin worked to support the Seattle Coder Dojo and started/ran the Snohomish County Coder Dojo
- While these Dojos are focused on in person meetups there are some good self-serve resources available including projects to use at Dojos and free training on how to start a Dojo
- Seattle CoderDojo is an example of a Coder Dojo club, Devin volunteered here. It's large, sponsored by Amazon and runs really well
- Some of the Tutorials and Cirriculum from the Dojo are listed for free there is also a good listing of general links spanning a variety of topics and resources
- This resource looks to mostly be an affilate marketing driven landing page, however it offers some good information about how to help teach kids coding principles
This article offers 5 key tips on helping kids learn to code and focuses on interest based learning.
- Find their passion - target learning to their passion (build a game for gamers, visual focused project for artistic kids, etc...)
- Start with a visual language - Traditional languages might be a bit much for a young (especially pre-reader) child.
- Start Small - Don't push kids too hard but keep it fun and challenging
- Build resilience through failures - Remind child that making mistakes is a chance to learn and not something to be upset about.
- Build on success - Congratulate and celebrate ALL successes. Use momentum to keep them going
- We need to establish learning goals prior to starting so that we can consider
what specifically do we want the child(ren) to learn? - There are 7 things important to include in learning goals for coding:
- Algorithms - Even though children may not know it they are already familiar with algorithims (like how to brush their teeth, how to tie their shoes, how to make a sandwhich, how to choose a show on Netflix)
- Sequencing - Sequencing is important in algorithims, while an algorithim has to tell you what steps you take sequencing orders those steps. Following instructions for a Lego kit is a great example of how children do this already.
- Conditionals - Children are already familiar with conditionals (if toys on floor, pick them up), (if mommy and daddy are talking, don't interrupt)
- Loops - Children are familiar with looping through things like taking turns
- Coordinates - Coordinates are more advanced and relate directly to math but it's still important to cover
- Variables - Children may have a hard time grasping this one initially but it's important for them to understand that some values may be unknown or changing.
- Functions - Children already have an idea of how functions work (an input drives an output) i.e. turning the doorknob causes the door to be able to be opened
- This is an article published by Code.org that is aimed to help educators learn how to teach computer science in elementary school
- This article links out to the Code.org Computer Science Fundamentals Path
- This article outlines the research that goes into why it's important to teach kids to code including benefits like better testing scores
- Links out to the Computer Science Teachers of America Standards and explains how code.org cirriculum is built upon them.
Kids who code learn important problem-solving skills, develop perseverance, and hone their creativity.
- Ensure you are using age appropriate methods when introducing coding to children
- Block-based/visual languages are very helpful for young children
- Keep in mind, coding is creativity while it is related to STEM, Coding is a great creative outlet
- Work to inspire curiosity in the child. Let children experiment and learn
- Help children to explore and nurture passions - it's way easier to learn when you can apply it to something you enjoy, same goes for kids
- Consider using social coding by doing things like "hackathons" and pair programming. Make sure kids don't feel isolated during their learning
- Mentorship can be important as kids progress
- This article focuses mainly on making use of commerical toys to help children learn coding concepts
- We have more tools and toys than ever to help with teaching kids computational thinking and coding.
- It is extremely important to:
- Keep Learning Fun
- Focus on Scientific and Computational Thinking
- Robot Turtles is a really cool, screen free board game to help with computational thinking
- Osmo manufactuers several learning sets that are used with tablets, some focus on coding
- This resource lists some resources that are helpful for teaching children to code including:
- Made with Code (Google)
- MIT Scratch
- Tynker
- Code.org
- Khan Academy