Authentic Project

CS Principles Unit and Lesson Discussion
1

I need both the APCSP and APCSA class to do an authentic team challenge to meet our new requirements for our class next year. Students can work in partners or a small groups. They need to work on a real-world problem and have an outside coach guide them.

Here are the requirements:

  • Having identifiable expert mentors is critical to each Team-Based Challenge

Team-Based Challenges must take place with integrated teams of students

Team-Based Challenges must center on authentic problems that required student problem-solving rather than specific tasks

Solves an Authentic problem

  • …identified in collaboration with a community member (industry, business, government, etc)

  • … is local or regionally relevant to the community as a whole

  • Results in a real solution that can be partially/fully implemented in the community

  • A final product/presentation is created ( a program, small group powerpoint, recorded media, fairs, or live events)

Does anyone have good project ideas, links, or other resources? Is there something already in Code.org that I can use or change to meet the requirements?

Thank you!

2

I don’t know of a code.org resource for this one. I have loved using the UN’s 17 Global Goals as a kickoff for real world projects, and have used the Apps For Good (appsforgood.org) as a guide for my unit structure. This doesn’t help with the community partners, but might be a place to start!

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3

Hey @choster,

What a great question! I would recommend checking with your local science center or museum if you are looking for a community partner for a project of this type. Depending on the institution’s goals, they may have programming that ties directly into this or they may have contacts in the community who would be interested in collaborating on this type of project.

– Michael K.

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