The Computer Science K-12 Express
Issue #2, November 3, 2017
Your weekly resource to discover what is happening in K-12 computer science around the district and the world. Feel free to use any of the ideas or resources in these newsletters as you prepare your computer science lessons that will be shared at the end of the Computer Science: Building a Foundation for Student-Choice course on February 7, 2018.
News You Can Use
Code.org has both resources and interactive lessons and if you create a teacher account, you will receive weekly newsletters with the latest in useful ideas and research for teaching computer science in K-12 classrooms. Click below to check it out and create an account.
Connected Coding
Students consume virtual reality (VR) content through Google Expeditions for learning, why not let them create VR content and share it . This week in Connected Coding, there is a way to allow students to create VR with block code or script. CoSpaces.io allows you to create your own virtual worlds and bring them to life with the power of code. It provides all the tools necessary to make, code and explore your own 3D creations, even in VR. The simple and easy to use software can be operated across all platforms, whether that's the browser on your desktop or laptop, or through the companion app for tablets and smartphones. The EDU version is free to try for the first two months after you create a teacher account. Check it out below!
This week in Computer Science
Computer Science Education Week is December 4-10, 2017 and there are plenty of events being planned around the world for you to join! One of the easiest ways to get involved is to join Hour of Code, which is an opportunity for every student to try computer science for one hour in any content area. Interested learning what activities students can engage in for Hour of Code, then click here. Want to sign up for the Hour of Code to participate and have the possibility of winning a set of robots or circuits for your classroom, then click here and then click the red Join Us button. Oh, and while you're there, be sure to watch the video on how computer science is changing everything. As Spock would say, "Fascinating."
Shoutouts
We would like to thank Molly Rauh for sharing the Computational Thinking with Scratch website with us this week. It has turned out to be a great resource for providing ideas on how we might assess a student's computational thinking. Check it out below!