Objective: 

Students will collaborate to design and develop a program on paper, each taking on different roles such as designer, facilitator, and notetaker. They will maintain a journal documenting their collaborative process, reflecting on challenges, roles, and team dynamics over time.

Materials Needed: 

• Paper, pencils

• Role cards (driver, navigator, notetaker, facilitator, debugger)

• Journals or notebooks for each student

Steps:

• Introduction: 

  • The teacher explains that students will work in teams to design a simple program on paper that controls a character's movement through a maze. 

  • She introduces collaborative computing roles, such as driver (who draws), navigator (who gives directions), and notetaker (who documents decisions). 

  • Students will rotate through roles during the activity, and each will keep a journal documenting their experiences.

• Activity: 

  • Students break into teams and begin designing their program on paper, with one student acting as the driver while others take on different roles. 

  • The notetaker documents each decision made, such as movement directions and failure points encountered. 

  • Throughout the process, students reflect in their journals about their role, what went well, what challenges arose, and how they collaborated with peers. 

  • After several rounds of testing and revising their paper program, they swap roles and continue refining their designs.

• Presentation: 

  • Each team presents their final paper program, explaining the roles each member took and how they iteratively improved their design. 

  • Students share their journal reflections on collaboration and role rotation.

Equity and Access: 

Provide role cards with detailed explanations for students who need extra support, and group students with varying abilities for peer collaboration.

Real-World Connection: 

Discuss how professional programmers work in teams, often taking on specialized roles, and reflect on the importance of communication and collaboration in project development.

CS Practice(s): 

• Collaborating Around Computing: Students work together, rotating roles and reflecting on how different responsibilities contribute to the project’s success. 

• Communicating About Computing: Students document and communicate their experiences and decisions through journals and presentations.

Standard(s): 

• CA CCSS for ELA-Literacy.W.4.10

• CA CS 3-5.AP.18

Objective: 

Students will use a coding platform to collaboratively develop a program, rotating through roles such as driver, navigator, and debugger. Each student will maintain a journal to document their reflections on collaboration, challenges, and successes throughout the project.

Materials Needed: 

• Tablets or computers

• Journals or notebooks for each student

• Role cards (driver, navigator, debugger)

Steps:

• Introduction: 

  • The teacher introduces a project where students will collaboratively create a coding program to animate a character moving through a scene. 

  • Students learn they will take on the roles of driver (who codes), navigator (who directs), and debugger (who identifies errors), and will rotate through roles as they develop the program. 

  • Each student will keep a journal documenting their reflections on the collaborative process.

• Activity: 

  • In pairs, students start developing their program. 

  • The driver controls the keyboard, coding the character’s movements, while the navigator provides guidance, and the debugger checks for errors. 

  • After completing a portion of the program, they rotate roles and continue development. 

  • Throughout the process, students document their experiences in a journal, reflecting on their role in the team, any difficulties encountered, and how the team worked together to solve problems. 

  • Feedback is shared among teammates to improve collaboration.

• Presentation: 

  • Teams present their completed program, explaining the roles each member took and how they tested and debugged their code. 

  • Students also share their journal reflections on how role rotation helped them understand different aspects of program development.

Equity and Access: 

Provide pre-coded templates for students needing additional support, and encourage peer collaboration by pairing students with different levels of coding experience.

Real-World Connection: 

Relate the activity to real-world software development, where programmers often work in teams and take on different roles, such as coding, testing, and debugging.

CS Practice(s): 

• Collaborating Around Computing: Students work in teams, taking on different roles throughout the program development process. 

• Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts: Students debug their program and reflect on the debugging process in their journals.

• Communicating About Computing: Students document and communicate their experiences and decisions through journals and presentations.

Standard(s): 

• CA CCSS for ELA-Literacy.W.4.10

• CA CS 3-5.AP.18