4-12 CS Initiative

The 4-12 Computer Science Initiative now has a new home. Visit our new site at EPSB CSI 4-12

Suggested Units and Software

Here is a first draft of our suggested platforms and key units to use at the various grade levels. This list is not definitive and many of our group use alternative and additional platforms.

Grades 4-6

(mostly integrated into core)

Grades 7-9

(mostly taught in complimentary courses, for now)

Grades 10-12

(Computing Science specific courses)

Scratch (most recommended resource)

Scratch

Robotics (mostly Lego, Vex IQ, Arduino)

Web Design

Game Maker

Python programming*

App Inventor

Database (MS Access)

Game Maker

Processing programming*

Java programming

Optional units:

Robotics (Vex)

Robotics (Arduino)

Web Design (HTML, CSS, etc)

IB / AP content

*For teaching coding, our recommended path is Scratch to Python to Processing to Java. Both Python and Processing are accessible first languages and either could be used at either middle school or the high school level. They are presented in this order as it represents a good transition for students and schools in our district. In middle school classes in Edmonton, there is a tendancy to limit the amount of text based coding (except perhaps for advanced students). We therefore recommend Python to middle schools in our district. This is our collective opinion and not an official position or policy.