Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom may keep postal workers from delivering the mail, but is their livelihood sustainable? A question about the USPS makes up one of the three items in a series of free-response questions from the...

Students calculate how much coal they use based on their electric power usage. In this environmental science lesson, students trace the history of coal mining in US. They write a letter to USPS to encourage them to create coal mining...

Students discover how a zip code is used. In this zip code lesson, students use the parts of a zip code to find where a letter is going, then find the first number of zip codes based on geographic regions.

The purpose of this first lesson in a series of five about enfranchisement and suffrage is to determine what class members already know, or think they know, about voting and voter registration. Groups...

Youngsters examine selected amendments to the Constitution to determine how voting requirements in the US have changed from the colonial days to the present.

Who is eligible to vote in your state? Class members examine their states' voting qualifications, complete sample voter registration forms, and chart the elections scheduled.

Your youngsters will celebrate and commemorate some of the most prominent presidents in United States history with these fun worksheets. Activities include practicing writing quotes by the presidents, designing a new American coin,...

Young travelers keep a travel journal as they tour the world and research the holiday traditions of over 30 countries. The directions packet for this journey includes an eBook filled with all the necessary templates, loads of links,...

Move beyond buttons when designing user interfaces. In the fourth installment of a 21-part unit, young computer scientists learn to apply design mode, which gives users options for colors, fonts, etc. They learn to incorporate these...

Scholars continue their study of event-driven programming by creating a multi-screen app in the fifth lesson of the series. They incorporate previously learned elements and events in the mini-project.

Not all variables are created equal. Discover how variables in computer science are different from variables in math class. Scholars learn to work with variables in computer programming by developing a mental model for how variables...

Investigate the benefits of using global variables. The seventh installment of a 21-part unit continues the study of variables from the previous lesson. Young computer scientists modify two existing apps by adding variables and learn how...

Pupils learn to apply strings in computer science. They master two new user interface elements and also use string type data to represent ASCII characters. Finally, individuals create an app for Mad Libs in the eighth lesson of the series.

How does a computer recognize voice commands? Scholars learn about digital assistants and natural language processing (NLP) algorithms in the ninth lesson plan of the series. They begin building a simple digital assistant and work on...

On one condition ... explore how to use conditionals within conditionals. Scholars apply conditional statements to improve upon the app they built during a previous lesson. They also learn about nested conditionals in the 11th lesson of...

Scholars use a playing card activity to help them develop a program to find the minimum value of a list. They learn to use for loops to write code that will process lists. 

Young computer scientists explore how to use the return command in computer programing by playing Go Fish. They learn about functions that return values and then write a turtle driver app using the return function. 

Scholars learn how to make a digital canvas and fill it with artwork by creating a drawing app using the canvas element. The activity requires learners to previous knowledge of arrays and return commands to draw images.

The last installment of a 21-part unit is a practice performance task that asks class members to design an app using skills from the unit. Scholars take one of the previous apps from the unit and modify it by adding elements and making...

Introduce event-driven programming. Young computer scientists learn the meaning of event-driven programming and how it is different from previous styles of programming. They play a card game to simulate the challenges that occur in this...

Start programming in event-driven style. Scholars learn to place buttons on the user interface and use event handlers. They also learn to recognize errors in code and debug as necessary. This is the second lesson plan in the series of 21.

Discover how to embed images in lists. Scholars modify an existing app to include an image scroller in the 17th lesson of the series. They learn to refactor code and remove redundancies after modifying code.

How can you store lists in a computer program? The 16th installment of a 21-part unit introduces arrays as a way to store lists within a variable. Individuals program a list of their favorite things—adding interest to the activity.

Explore how people use event-driven programming in games with a lesson that teaches scholars to use new screen elements and events. They apply these new elements to create a simple chaser game.