Introduce: Parallelism

Lesson Overview

Students will be introduced to the computer science concept of parallelism through plugged and unplugged activities. A variety of activities are included below to provide the teacher with choice around best supporting their students' comprehension of this concept.

Agenda

⭐️ Introduce: Use the pages in the Blue Workbook to introduce students to parallelism. (5-10 min.)
🤖 Engage: Select from the activities below to engage students in learning about parallelism and what they do in computer programs. (35-50 min.)
📓 Reflect: (5 min.)
- How to explain parallelism to a friend?
- Can you think of any way Parallelism is used in real life?

Materials

varies, based on the activities selected from below
Blue Level Student Workbooks, p. 4-5
- English / Spanish

Lesson Plan

Unplugged Activity:

Learn about parallelism using this unplugged activity.

Parallelism in Scratch:

Butterflies (single project)
Getting Unstack Parallelism (studio of projects)
Parallelism Project page

Vocabulary

parallelism: sets of instructions that run at the same time

Standards

CA CSS 3-5.AP.12 Create programs that include events, loops, and conditionals.
CA CSS 3-5.AP.17 Test and debug a program or algorithm to ensure it accomplishes the intended task.
CA CSS 3-5.AP.18 Perform different roles when collaborating with peers during the design, implementation, and review stages of program development.

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