Teaching Kids Code Program Details

Time period : 2-3 months

Grades : 7th, 8th, 9th

Structure :

• History of Programming and Computer Science
  • Story of computers and CS, why and how did we invent them, how did they evolve in the past 60 ish years
  • Connecting to the story of man landing on moon, need of computers to do it
  • Story of human computers, people punching holes into paper and using huge machines before the invention of transistors
• What are Computers and CS? Why do we need them? What problems do they solve?
• Where are computers used in the real world today? (can be an assignment)
• Unplugged Exercises
  • Classroom exercises to teach computational thinking and CS concepts without using a computer.
  • Our task is to connect these exercises with Mathematical concepts they are already familiar with, like area of a circle etc
• Visual Introduction to Basic Concepts through Scratch Program
  • Types, Variables, Loops, Conditions, etc
  • We need to connect the visual blocks / syntax with the concepts they learnt in the unplugged exercises
• Digital Literacy (internet, security and privacy online, etc)
• Project - Build Something from Scratch
• Evaluation
  • Have we inspired them to keep learning, and perhaps building their career in CS? If not, why not? Where did we lack and where can we improve?
  • Evaluation of final project
    • Did they learn all the concepts, can they apply them
    • How did they approach the project building (copying from others or self-learning and building from scratch)
    • If built in teams, how well did they collaborate? How did each member contribute?
  • Asking them how and where they would use this knowledge (code / CS) in their daily life? What problems will or can they solve with it?

Aptitude :

• Inculcating self-learning and peer-learning behaviour passively
• Growth Mindset and Grit development

Ideas :

• Personally interacting with kids who are not engaging actively, to make them feel comfortable and personally make sure that they are able to learn and progress
• Providing some means to contact us off hours (mail or phone or perhaps through TFI).
• Should we try to gamify the program? If yes, how?
• Should we exercise the Flipped Classroom model?
• We should provide additional resources (and assignments) after every lesson, that kids can explore on their own afterwards.