Hour of Code in AP CSP?

Hello, all.

My AP CSP students will lead Hour of Code sessions for K-12 learners in our schools. I haven’t developed the idea too far beyond this kernel. Before I potentially begin to reinvent a wheel here, does anyone have materials for this? Do you have experiences from which I might learn?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

First, how AWESOME!!!

Next, check out code.org’s website for hour of code. They link to a whole bunch of activities for different levels. They have all been tested by classroom teachers too. One idea is to have your CSP students look through these and rate them - if they are passionate about it, they will make other students excited too.

I did this with our algebra students and I picked three different activities all of different levels. One was the basic hour of code tutorial by code.org (all blocks based), one code.org tutorial that allowed students to toggle between text and blocks, and a third that was all text (I think maybe it was the processing tutorial). Algebra students could then choose which was right for them based on their previous experiences. I also had my CSP students facilitate which went over swimmingly. One of my students even showed what they were working on in CSP at the time which I think was a good selling point for some students.

Good luck! And GOOD WORK!
KT

Thanks for your suggestions!

I asked my CSP students to begin browsing the tutorials last week, and we chatted about how they might be helping other students in our schools. I plan to give them planning and reflection materials to have them connect whatever tutorial they facilitate to concepts they’ve learned in class.

Again, thanks for the input!

My kids are going to be leading HoC sessions with 6th and 7th graders (Our school is k-12; the middle schoolers are conveniently across the hall.) For preparation, over Thanksgiving they are to be browsing the tutorials and completing one.

When we return from break on Monday, we’ll start discussing what 6th and 7th graders might be interested in. I may have them write a short google forms survey to find out more about the specific middle schoolers we have. From there, they’ll pick a tutorial and prepare. Our school has a chromebook for each student, so they’ll have to figure out how to get each student to the write website in the shortest amount of time. I’ll want them to think about how to introduce themselves, the idea of HoC and instructions regarding their specific tutorial. And so on.

Our state standards include having CompSci students teach/mentor others. So this is a neat way to meet that standard. During Unit 1 around lesson 11 and its optional lessons, my classes went to these same middle schoolers with Lego activities to talk about how the internet routes information. So there’s already some familiarity between the students, and I look forward to how the HoC goes.

If your students are interested in sharing App Lab with other students they could check out the Intro to App Lab tutorial we just launched. You can find it from code.org/applab. This would be a cool way that your CSP students could share what they’re learning but in an Hour of Code format.