Day 1

Day 1: Introduction and Plan


Pre-assessment

  • Determine comfort level with Scratch and familiarity with CS concepts: sequencing, conditionals, debugging, iterative design, algorithm, decomposition, and citing sources.


Learning Objectives

  • Students will know how to break down (decompose) their project into smaller chunks (5.5)

  • Students will know the steps in an iterative design process - plan, code, test, debug (5.4)


Introduce students to the project

  • Ask students to share memorable field trip experiences.

  • Explain that they will be creating a virtual field trip based on an interdisciplinary [CS teaching strategy] subject that you have chosen, but they will have a lot of choices [CS teaching strategy] to make about what they show people on their field trip.

  • Ask students to think about strategies to tackle a big project like this where they have a lot of creative freedom [CS teaching strategy].

  • Tell students that one strategy is decomposition [SOL: 5.5] - or to break down a complex problem into smaller parts that are more manageable and easier to understand. They are going to break down the larger project into different scenes to help them plan their field trip [SOL: 5.4].


Activity

  • Hand out Virtual Field Trip Planner (either in google docs or paper) edited with your specific prompts.

  • Students work to break down their field trip into 3 scenes and make a plan.

  • Have students login to Scratch either through accounts you have set up or accounts they create.


Discussion

  • What was difficult/easy about planning your field trip? Any problems that you came across?

  • Remind students that their plans can always change, but it is good practice to start with a plan and then go back an update as the project progresses.


Exit ticket

  • Collect students’ pre-assessment, virtual field trip planner and Scratch account info (if you have not collected this info before).