Curricula Design

Grades: 1 - 2
Duration: 8 sessions, each lasting 90 minute
Modality: in-person

In the "Planeten der Informatik" 🚀 (in English: Planets of Computer Science) course, pupils in grades 1 and 2 explore various aspects of computer science. The course entails visits to seven planets, each representing a distinct sub-aspect of the field. The objective is to impart fundamental computer science knowledge beyond mere programming, by the course's conclusion.

The learning approach is designed to be enjoyable, creative, and hands-on, enabling children to gain insights into designing algorithms and employing them for composing music. Additionally, they learn about the functioning and decision-making processes of robots🤖, the significance of encoding and decoding messages, and the concept of automata. The course emphasizes the relevance of these concepts to our daily lives.

To make computer science an experiential subject, the teaching methodology primarily employs haptic and creative activities. This ensures that children engage actively with the subject matter, reinforcing their understanding.

An essential aspect of the course is its "unplugged" format, which means that no screens or technical equipment are utilized during the teaching process. As a result, the school does not need any additional technical resources for the successful implementation of the course. 

Course manual: Wacker, J., Kunz, K., Tsarava, K. (2022). “Planeten der Informatik” - Ein Unplugged-Programmierkurs für Kinder der 1. und 2. Klasse. Hector Informatikcurriculum. Reihe Hector Core Courses.

Grades: 3 - 4
Duration: 10 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes
Modality: available in both in-person and online formats 

The "Verstehen wie Computer denken" (in English: Understanding How Computers Think) course aims to foster comprehension of algorithmic concepts and their practical applications, while also sparking an interest in computer science. Through engaging and interactive life-size board games designed exclusively for the course, children of grades 3 and 4 playfully get introduced to foundational computational thinking concepts. Subsequently, they learn to apply these concepts in programming exercises.

As the course progresses, the children deepen their theoretical knowledge, gaining independence in their programming abilities. They work on projects such as games 🎮, simulations, and the "open hardware" platform Arduino. To facilitate the course, a computer room or mobile laptop stations with approximately six computers and an internet connection are necessary. 

Course manual: Leifheit, L., Tsarava, K., Ninaus, M., & Moeller, K. (2018). “Verstehen wie Computer denken“ - Ein Trainingsprogramm zur Förderung von informatischem Denken und systematischen Problemlösefähigkeiten besonders begabter Kinder im Grundschulalter. Reihe Hector Core Courses.

Grade: 4
Duration: 10 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes
Modality: available in both in-person and online formats 

The course "Kreativ am Computer" (in English: Creative with Computers) is a course designed for children in 5th and 6th grades. This is a course where coding mixes with lots of creativity!

Made with young minds in mind, this course teaches basic programming elements in a creative way. Children are guided to a journey on learning about concepts like sequences, loops, variables, and other computer stuff. They use Python to create cool artwork🎨  using the turtle.py tool.

The course begins with simple building code blocks that are like digital LEGO blocks, sing the BlockPy environment. This makes learning easy and fun – no getting frustrated with mistakes. And as learning progresses, children get introduced to typing out their own code. The transition from block-based programming to text-based programming is achieved using a hybrid programming environment that combines the two modalities and lowers the transition threshold.

Course manual: Höllein, P., Kunz, K., Tsarava, K. (2022). “Kreativ am Computer” - Ein hybrider Python-Programmierkurs für Schulkinder der 3. und 4. Hector Informatikcurriculum. Reihe Hector Core Courses.