For teaching core computer science concepts in a fun and engaging manner with various games and activites.
The LilyPad Arduino is designed for e-textiles and wearables projects. It can be sewn to fabric and similarly mounted power supplies, sensors and actuators with conductive thread.
Interested in learning how to build web sites? Start with this HTML and Javascript curriculum, which teaches the basics of web programming.
Java is one of the world's most prevalent programming languages. Learn the basics of Java with this curriculum!
What is Cybersecurity? It is the overall method of protecting networks, computers, programs, and data from harmful attacks and unauthorized access. What is Encryption? Encryption transforms original information (plaintext), into transformed information (ciphertext), which usually has the appearance of random, unintelligible data.
Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animations with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.
Lego EV3 allows students to program their own robots by learning how to program and control servo motors and other movable parts.
The Intel Galileo is a microcontroller board that allows for students to learn about controlling hardware such as lights and speakers.
Pencil is “A modern sandbox for little programs”, where you get to explore programming and learn many computer science concepts using cute little turtles and making many fun projects! It uses a language called CoffeeScript. Professional software engineers use CoffeeScript to build complex websites, but CoffeeScript code can also be very simple.
Linux is a computer operating system distributed as a free open source software that is modeled on UNIX.
Ozobots are miniature robots. They are the smallest of their kind. Ozobots can do a lot of things, but only with the right instructions, or programming.
Alice Animation is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a freely available teaching tool designed to be a student’s first exposure to object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to animate the objects. (www.alice.org)
Python is one of the worlds most popular programming languages, and one of the best to learn for beginners!
Unlike other learning to code programs, Blender is most famous for its built-in 3D Rendering Engine (“Bender Cycles” and “Bender Render”). So Blender’s top propriety is for 3D and 2D animators to have a free open source program to practice in. This means that YOU the user can create their own environment, elements, and animate them to move the way you want them to. In Blender, there is another Engine that is built-in and allows for users to design their own games; this is call “Blender Game”.
MIT App Inventor is a web application integrated development environment originally provided by Google, and now maintained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
StarLogo TNG is The Next Generation of StarLogo modeling and simulation software. This version brings with it several advances – 3D graphics and sound, a blocks-based programming interface, and keyboard input – that make it a great tool for programming educational video games.
Students learn how to program PicoCricket ‘robots’ using input and output devices. This workshop is a hands-on approach about programming and the fundamentals of programming using drag and drop. By using light sensors, sound sensors, resistance sensors, LEDs, sound boxes, displays, and motors, the students create and build their own program to go with their ‘robot’ that she/he designs, or for longer design sessions, falls under a theme, such as an amusement park. Students can build the robot/rides and program them to spin, light up, play music, rotate, move, etc. This activity allows students to be creative when developing and building their robot/ride. Students are also introduced to the basic concepts of engineering through the design process.
Ruby is “a dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write.” Ruby is used by NASA and Motorola to run simulations, by Google for its 3D modeling software Google SketchUp, for Internet security by the Metasploit Framework, and for countless web applications.
YWiC LEGO robotics courses for middle and high school students serve as an introduction to robot programming. Using the LEGO Mindstorms Education NXT Base Set and the LEGO Mindstorms Education Resource Set, students learn the basics of building robots and programming. The courses are very interactive and allow students to express their creativity while developing their logical skills. A few popular projects are detailed below.
YWiC has incorporated Forensics curriculum into its summer camps from 2010-2013. The Forensics curriculum contains bone remnants units, blood spattering, finger-printing, and lip-printing. YWiC, in collaboration with area high school Forensics teachers, works to demonstrate the ways in which Computer Science is used in a variety of fields.
