Unit 6.1
Smart communities
In this unit, students explore how people can incorporate computing and technology into their surroundings in a way that is responsive to the needs of their community. Students will incorporate loops, conditional statements, user inputs, and sensing blocks to program simulations of responsive systems such as traffic lights and streetlights. They will then consider a problem in their community and prototype a potential solution.
Overview documents
Places and spaces
Students explore how the environments in which we live shape the ways we behave. Students will use event blocks, motion blocks, and loops to make a vehicle move, then stop at a stop sign.
Variables
Students investigate the use of variables as a way to track values in a program. They explore the user-centered design cycle and program a solution to meet a specific user’s needs.
This sentence is true
Students discuss different ways that Booleans, conditionals, and loops work together to react to changes. Students then use flowcharts to analyze a program before applying their learning by constructing a program with given constraints.
Design thinking challenge
Students participate in a guided design thinking sprint focused on a school-related scenario. The activity emphasizes empathy, problem definition, and ideation. Today’s activity is unplugged and does not require students to use computers.
Prototype a solution
Students are introduced to the concept of algorithms and their connection to flowcharts. They return to their design sprint from the last lesson and create a flowchart as a prototype of their solution.
Testing
Students develop and share a feedback survey to test out their prototyped solution with target users. Students incorporate feedback from the survey to modify their prototype to better meet user needs.
Sharing your work
Students create a portfolio from their planning and prototyping documentation. They use a 3, 2, 1 protocol to reflect and share about their design choices in the context of meeting user needs.