Have your class use the engineering design process to program a vacuum robot. Using computer engineering concepts, teams program an automatic floor cleaner to traverse designated patterns. 

Computers need precise directions to complete a task. Class members experience what it is like to program a computer with an activity that asks one pupil to describe an image while classmates follow the directions to duplicate the picture.

Tests are no fun, but test cases are extremely helpful. Pupils work in groups to write a Java program that completes a given task. They come up with test cases to give to another group, then trade test cases to determine if their program...

How does the garden grow? With inherited functions! The interactive activity has individuals alter a program to utilize object inheritance. Scholars develop an object type that two other objects use to inherit similar aspects. The...

Get young programmers thinking about programming languages with an activity that asks class members to craft directions for one person (teacher, another adult, or a class mate) acting as a robot. Participants direct the robot to...

Scholars take to computers or devices to boost reading skills using educational software or websites.

See how changes in initial populations and parameters affect a biological community. Individuals use a special software program to simulate a desert community with five species. They adjust initial populations to see how the community...

Two smiley faces are better than one. The interactive lesson challenges pupils to use methods to alter a program to make it more efficient. Individuals use the new code to create multiple smiley faces that speak. The engaging activity is...

Building an accelerometer app for your Android device. Groups develop an app that uses the accelerometer on an Android device. The purpose of the activity is to reinforce the programming design. The post activity assessment challenges...

How smart is that piece of paper? The activity introduces the idea of computer programming as a list of instructions written by computer programmers. Two individuals play a game of Tic-Tac-Toe in which one follows the commands...

What makes human interaction different from interaction with computers? Learners consider the question as they build Turing tests to determine whether a computer thinks like a human. They begin by looking at current versions of Turing...

Get to know the computer program, Microsoft Word, by completing 24 tasks, including typing a line of text, experimenting with format options, inserting page numbers, headers, footers, and more.  

As part of a career exploration and investigation, learners research the Internet for possible career options and identify what type of educational preparation is required for those careers, as well as possible salary options,...

Introduces the class to the idea of searching a list by building a script. Learners modify a guessing game script that will find a number in a list. 

Create lists within lists. The second lab in a series of five in the unit has pupils develop a simple contact list app. The tasks within the lab build the need for an abstract data type. Individuals build more complexity into their...

Discover journalistic techniques by having learners prepare and write their own class newspaper. They discuss the five W's of investigative journalism and conduct interviews with school figures. They utilize video technology, podcast...

Invite your kids to tell all sorts of stories with this interactive app. Learners view images and record their own voices as as they create short narratives to go along with the images. The app provides plenty of...

Use list operations to modify an earlier version of Tic Tac Toe. The fourth lab in a series of five has pupils combine list operations to build more powerful operations. They take a project from a previous unit and enhance it to keep...

Develop an understanding of the Map, Keep, and Combine operations. The lab leads the class through the exploration of three list operations. Each task contains a self-check to measure scholars' understanding of the operation in the...

Which search engine is best? The last lab in a unit of five leads the class to investigate search engines. Working in groups, individuals read and discuss articles related to searching the Internet. Pupils develop suggestions that...

Try as you might, some functions just cannot be computed. The lab introduces the class to the possibility of unsolvable problems. The fourth lesson in a series of seven begins with a logic problem, then progresses to looking at functions...

Learners use an animation program plan and create a short animation movie showing what they have learned in math or any other curriculum area.

Scholars build robotic arms that swing back and forth and use them to collect velocity and acceleration data. To analyze the results, pupils compare data to the equations for angular velocity and centripetal acceleration.

One step at a time! A seemingly linear relationship becomes an entirely new type of function. Young scholars build their understanding of step functions by completing a three-stage activity that incorporates multiple representations of...