Students who are mathematically inclined can use the student version of a program like MatLab or Mathematica to convert a digital image into numbers, then perform operations such as sharpening or special effects. This is a great way to...

Students learn about data sorting, and by what criteria can one sort things by different algorithms such as selection, insertion and bubble sort.

You work at the college library. You're in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they're all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How...

Christian Rudder, one of the founders of popular dating site OKCupid, details the algorithm behind connecting couples online. [7:30]

A collection of free learning activities that teach computer science through games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons and lots of running around. The activities introduce students to computational thinking through concepts such...

This task provides an application of polynomials in computing. Students are asked to calculate the running time of algorithms for loading images of different sizes. They then graph the running time polynomials and decide which is more...

This unplugged lesson plan brings the class together as a team with a simple task to complete: get a "robot" to stack cups in a specific design. This activity lays the groundwork for the programming that students will do throughout the...

Students will practice debugging in the "collector" environment. Students will get to practice reading and editing code to fix puzzles with simple algorithms, loops and nested loops.

A basic introductory course to computer science. Covers what computers are, their parts, and what they do; what the Internet is and how it works; some basic programming concepts; algorithms; data analysis; and global impact of computers...

Practice using lossless text and image compression algorithms and considering what data can be compressed most easily.

In this Cyberchase video, Bianca has a new job decorating fresh-baked donuts. Her supervisor asked her to decorate 12 trays of donuts, but Bianca thought he meant 12 donuts. When she discovers her mistake, she uses multiplication...

Brief lesson plans that show how to use base ten blocks to do all four operations and a little bit of algebra.

This page explains how a bubble sort works along with examples and source code.

This activity will look at how computers correct errors automatically.

This lesson will help illustrate how variables can make programs more powerful by allowing values to change while the code is running.

n this lesson, students will explore the creation of repetitive designs using variables in the Artist environment. Students will learn how variables can be used to make code easier to write and easier to read, even when the values don't...

This lesson helps to explain what variables are and how we can use them in many different ways.

Move three disks in Towers of Hanoi, following the steps learned.

Wikipedia provides a basic definition of encryption, and distinguishes between the two encryption methods: symmetric and asymmetric key algorithms.

Multiplication of positive or negative whole numbers or decimal numbers as the multiplicand and multiplier to calculate the product using long multiplication. The solution shows the work for the Standard Algorithm.

A Wikipedia description of the algorithm efficiency measurement known as Big-O.

A Wikipedia description of the algorithm design language known as pseudocode.

A Wikipedia description of the binary search algorithm.

A Wikipedia description of the Insertion Sort algorithm.