Post-Exam Projects

[hwalden]

Starting next week, I only have five 80-minute days left with the seniors in my AP classes (8 with non-seniors). I can't do anything this week, because most of my students are taking other AP exams. We don't really have enough time to do the Post-AP Code.org unit. Any ideas for a clever, fun project? They are all burnt out on building apps (we participated in a state-wide app challenge in addition to the PTs). I tried CodeSpells, which was advertised in CSTA's publications, but ran into too many bugs to make it usable for my purposes.

[cmeeks]

Movies: Snowden, Imitation Game
We are also going to do a music project with Pencil Code. https://gym.pencilcode.net/jam/#/jam/random.html

I also plan to do a computer dissection where they can take apart a old desktop, but you need a bunch of old desktops that are going to be thrown away.

[terence.stone25]

Check this thread for some ideas:

After the AP Exam Project Rubric?

I tried this once after AP CS-A and...it didn't go very well because the kids needed more structure. If I was still in the classroom I would now try the following: First of all, I would put students into pairs who are planning to use the same language/environment. They can make independent projects, but they should also be expected to be thought partners and help each other. Second, I would propose two weeks of planning (which might include investigating other languages). Check out the S…

[cmurakami]

My class watched "Code: Debugging the Gender Gap" which I recommend, but I work at an all-girls school, so it was very appropriate. Some bad language in the middle, just beware of how sensitive your school/students are.

[david_burnham]

I am doing a short unit on Virtual Reality. Our school has an Oculus Rift, but you can use Google Cardboard to introduce the concept. From there, I did a series of lessons on A-Frame (aframe.io) so that the kids could create some of their own worlds. I used some custom lessons I created on codehs.com as the platform for the lessons.

[alicia_marsh]

My students watched Hidden Figures. It talks about Fortran and the what it took to program during the cold war and space race. Plus, it is very inspirational for girls. It also brings in the ethics issue of computers replacing human beings.