This activity will begin with a short review of "My Robotic Friends," …
This activity will begin with a short review of "My Robotic Friends," then will quickly move to a race against the clock, as students break into teams and work together to write a program one instruction at a time.
At some point we reach a physical limit of how fast we …
At some point we reach a physical limit of how fast we can send bits and if we want to send a large amount of information faster, we have to find a way to represent the same information with fewer bits - we must **compress** the data. In this lesson, students will use the Text Compression Widget to compress segments of English text by looking for patterns and substituting symbols for larger patterns of text.
In this lesson, students are introduced to the need for encryption and …
In this lesson, students are introduced to the need for encryption and simple techniques for breaking (or cracking) secret messages. Students try their own hand at cracking a message encoded with the classic Caesar cipher and also a Random Substitution Cipher. Students should become well-acquainted with idea that in an age of powerful computational tools, techniques of encryption will need to be more sophisticated. The most important aspect of this lesson is to understand how and why encryption plays a role in all of our lives every day on the Internet, and that making good encryption is not trivial. Students will get their feet wet with understanding the considerations that must go into making strong encryption in the face of powerful computational tools that can be used to crack it. The need for secrecy when sending bits over the Internet is important for anyone using the Internet.
Students will learn that events are a useful way to control when …
Students will learn that events are a useful way to control when an action happens, and can even be used to make make multiple things act in sync. In programming, you can use events to respond to a user controlling it (like pressing buttons or clicking the mouse). Events can make your program more interesting and interactive.
Today we're going to talk about a fundamental part of all modern …
Today we're going to talk about a fundamental part of all modern computers. The thing that basically everything else uses - the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (or the ALU). The ALU may not have to most exciting name, but it is the mathematical brain of a computer and is responsible for all the calculations your computer does! And it's actually not that complicated. So today we're going to use the binary and logic gates we learned in previous episodes to build one from scratch, and then we'll use our newly minted ALU when we construct the heart of a computer, the CPU, in episode 7.
Students learn how to program using loops and switches. They see how …
Students learn how to program using loops and switches. They see how loops enable us to easily and efficiently tell a computer to keep repeating an operation. They also see that switches permit programs to follow different instructions based on whether or not preconditions are fulfilled. Using the LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots, sensors and software, student pairs perform three mini programming activities using loops and switches individually, and then combined. With practice, they incorporate these tools into their programming skill sets in preparation for the associated activity. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and worksheet are provided.
Building on the programming basics learned so far in the unit, students …
Building on the programming basics learned so far in the unit, students next learn how to program using sensors rather than by specifying exact durations. They start with an examination of algorithms and move to an understanding of conditional commands (until, then), which require the use of wait blocks. Working with the LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots and software, they learn about wait blocks and how to use them in conjunction with move blocks set with unlimited duration. To help with comprehension and prepare them for the associated activity programming challenges, volunteer students act out a maze demo and student groups conclude by programming LEGO robots to navigate a simple maze using wait block programming. A PowerPoint® presentation, a worksheet and pre/post quizzes are provided.
Python is a fun and extremely easy-to-use programming language that has steadily …
Python is a fun and extremely easy-to-use programming language that has steadily gained in popularity over the last few years. Developed over ten years ago by Guido van Rossum, Python's simple syntax and overall feel is largely derived from ABC, a teaching language that was developed in the 1980's. However, Python was also created to solve real problems and it borrows a wide variety of features from programming languages such as C++, Java, Modula-3, and Scheme. Because of this, one of Python's most remarkable features is its broad appeal to professional software developers, scientists, researchers, artists, and educators. 278 page pdf file.
Final projects can help students summarize and review content from the entire …
Final projects can help students summarize and review content from the entire semester. Plus, they can create fantastic products with what they've learned!
Projects let students take what they’ve learned, put it all together and show off a little of their own creativity and personality.
Options include: 1. Create a website 2. Create a screencast video 3. Make a single multimedia webpage 4. Connect with a cause 5. Create an infographic 6. Create a series of podcasts 7. Do a genius hour-style project 8. Create an annotated collection 9. Tell it as a story 10. Make an explainer video
Ignition – Digital Literacy & Responsibility™ combines the power of cutting-edge instructional …
Ignition – Digital Literacy & Responsibility™ combines the power of cutting-edge instructional design, new media, and simulations to educate teens and empower them with the skill set to leverage technology safely and effectively. The four-hour curriculum, designed for students in grades 6 – 9—informs students about how technology works and provides an introduction to STEM careers. In addition to the modules, students apply their learning in virtual environments, demonstrating their mastery of issues such as privacy, security, cyberbullying, conducting online research, digital relationships, and the viral nature of the web.
Grades 6 to 9
This Course Covers Digital Footprint Internet Safety Cyberbullying Conducting Online Research Digital Time Management STEM Careers
Students apply the design process to the problem of hiding a message …
Students apply the design process to the problem of hiding a message in a digital image using steganographic methods, a PictureEdit Java class, and API (provided as an attachment). They identify the problems and limitations associated with this task, brainstorm solutions, select a solution, and implement it. Once their messages are hidden, classmates attempt to decipher them. Based on the outcome of the testing phase, students refine and improve their solutions.
Dozens of free and low-cost college-level courses with classroom-tested materials and an …
Dozens of free and low-cost college-level courses with classroom-tested materials and an interactive online environment. The $25-per-academic-course version includes all resources, along with free instructor tools, such as LMS integration, a learning dashboard and gradebook, and content sequencing and combining.
You can learn pretty much anything here from languages, to math, physics, computer science, psychology, etc!
This site features over 300 videos of fireside chats with Indigenous leaders …
This site features over 300 videos of fireside chats with Indigenous leaders across Canada and their careers. Many videos include reflection and discussion guides. You can explore by Career, location or community. Click on the fire to get started.
Simply put, this is one of my most favorite topics when it …
Simply put, this is one of my most favorite topics when it comes to talking about computers. In this video we layout the order of this lesson, as well as give basic definitions of: •Machine-Level Security •Network Security •Internet Security •Social Engineering
Instructables is a website specializing in user-created and uploaded do-it-yourself projects, currently …
Instructables is a website specializing in user-created and uploaded do-it-yourself projects, currently owned by Autodesk. It was created by Eric Wilhelm and Saul Griffith and launched in August 2005.
Instructables is dedicated to step-by-step collaboration among members to build a variety of projects.
Today we’re going to take our first baby steps from hardware into …
Today we’re going to take our first baby steps from hardware into software! Using that CPU we built last episode we’re going to run some instructions and walk you through how a program operates on the machine level. We'll show you how different programs can be used to perform different tasks, and how software can unlock new capabilities that aren't built into the hardware. This episode, like the last is pretty complicated, but don’t worry - as we move forward into programming the idea of opcodes, addresses, and registers at this machine level will be abstracted away like many of the concepts in this series.
So you may have heard of Moore's Law and while it isn't …
So you may have heard of Moore's Law and while it isn't truly a law it has pretty closely estimated a trend we've seen in the advancement of computing technologies. Moore's Law states that we'll see approximately a 2x increase in transistors in the same space every two years, and while this may not be true for much longer, it has dictated the advancements we've seen since the introduction of transistors in the mid 1950s. So today we're going to talk about those improvements in hardware that made this possible - starting with the third generation of computing and integrated circuits (or ICs) and printed circuit boards (or PCBs). But as these technologies advanced a newer manufacturing process would bring us to the nanoscale manufacturing we have today - photolithography.
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