Please enable JavaScript to use CodeHS

Indiana Computer Science I

Description

In this lesson, students are introduced to CodeHS and how Karel the Dog can be given a set of instructions to perform a simple task.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Write their first Karel program by typing out all of the Karel commands with proper syntax

  • Explain how giving commands to a computer is like giving commands to a dog

Description

In this lesson, students learn more about Karel and Karel’s world. Students learn about walls in Karel’s world, the directions Karel can face, and how to identify a location in Karel’s world using streets and avenues. In these exercises, students will begin to see the limitations of Karel’s commands. Students will need to apply Karel’s limited set of commands to new situations. For example, how can they make Karel turn right, even though Karel does not know a turnRight command?

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Identify the direction that Karel is facing
  • Predict what direction Karel will be facing after executing a series of commands
  • Identify a location in Karel’s world using Street, Avenue terminology
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how they can create their own commands for Karel by calling and defining functions. Functions allow programmers to create and reuse new commands that make code more readable and scalable.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define a function, and successfully implement functions in their code.
  • Teach Karel a new command by creating a turnRight() function
Description

In this lesson, students learn in more detail about functions, and how they can use functions to break down their programs into smaller pieces and make them easier to understand.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create functions to teach Karel new commands
  • Explain the difference between defining and calling a function
  • Utilize these functions to write higher level Karel programs that go beyond the basic toolbox of commands that Karel starts with
Description

In this lesson, students will deepen their understanding of functions by learning about the start function. The start function helps to organize the readability of code by creating a designated place where code that is going to be run in a program can be stored:

function start(){
   turnRight();
}

function turnRight(){
   turnLeft();
   turnLeft();
   turnLeft();
}
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the functionality of the start function
  • Use the start function appropriately in their programs
  • Improve the readability of their code
Description

In this lesson, students learn about Top Down Design and Decomposition. Top Down Design is the process of breaking down a big problem into smaller parts.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Break a large problem down into smaller, simpler problems
  • Write methods that solve the simpler problems, and use them as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Compare programs and identify good vs poor decomposition
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to style their programs by including comments. Comments allow students to leave notes on their program that makes it easier for other to read. Comments are written in plain English.
Commenting Your Code Example:

/*
 *  multi-line  comments
 */

// single line comments
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the preconditions and postconditions of a function
  • Create clear and readable comments in their code that help the reader understand the code
  • Explain the purpose of comments
Description

In this lesson, students are introduced to Super Karel! Since commands like turnRight() and turnAround() are so commonly used, students shouldn’t have to define them in every single program. This is where SuperKarel comes in. SuperKarel is just like Karel, except SuperKarel already knows how to turnRight and turnAround, so students don’t have to define those functions anymore!

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Write programs that use SuperKarel instead of Karel
  • Utilize the new toolbox of commands that SuperKarel provides over Karel
  • Read documentation to understand how to use a library (SuperKarel is an example of this)
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to use for loops in their programs. The for loop allows students to repeat a specific part of code a fixed number of times.

For loops are written like this:

for(var i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
    // Code to be repeated 4 times
}
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create for loops to repeat code a fixed number of times
  • Explain when a for loop should be a used
  • Utilize for loops to write programs that would be difficult / impossible without loops
Description

In this lesson, students learn about the conditional statement “if”. Code within an “if statement” will only execute IF the condition is true.

if (frontIsClear()) {
    // Code to be executed only if front is clear
}
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Use conditions to gather information about Karel’s world (is the front clear, is Karel facing north, etc)
  • Create if statements that only execute code if a certain condition is true
Description

In this lesson, students learn about an additional control structure, if/else statements. If/else statements let students do one thing if a condition is true, and something else otherwise.

if/else statements are written like this:

if(frontIsClear())
 {
      // code to execute if front is clear
 }
 else
 {
      // code to execute otherwise
 }
Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of an If/Else statement
  • Create If/Else statements to solve new types of problems
  • Identify when it is appropriate to use an If/Else statement
Description

In this lesson, students are introduced a new type of loop: while loops. While loops allow Karel to repeat code while a certain condition is true. While loops allow students to create general solutions to problems that will work on multiple Karel worlds, rather than just one.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of a while loop
  • Create while loops to repeat code while a condition is true
  • Utilize while loops to solve new types of problems
  • Test their solutions on different Karel worlds
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to combine and incorporate the different control structures they’ve learned to create more complex programs.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify the different control structures we can use to modify the flow of control through a program
  • Combine control structures to solve complicated problems
  • Choose the proper control structure for a given problem
Description

In this lesson, students get extra practice with control structures. Students will continue to see different ways that the if, if/else, while, and for loops affect their code and what Karel can do.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Debug common errors in code
  • Use control structures to create general solutions that work on all Karel worlds
Description

In this lesson, students review how they should indent their code to make it easier to read.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain why it is important to indent code
  • Identify proper indentation
  • Modify a program to have proper indentation
  • Write programs with proper indentation
Description

Debugging is a very important part of programming. In this lesson, students learn how to effectively debug their programs.

Objective

Students will be able to use debugging strategies to find and fix errors in their code.

Description

In this lesson, students will explore the careers available in computer science and learn how bias can affect computer programs.

Objective

Students will explore different computer science careers and opportunities.
Students will learn how bias can affect computer programs.

Description

In this unit, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the Karel unit to solve increasingly challenging Karel puzzles.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define a problem in their own words and plan out a solution to the problem
  • Break a large problem down into smaller pieces and solve each of the pieces, then use these solutions as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Utilize the proper control structures to create general solutions that solve multiple Karel worlds
  • Write clear and readable code using control structures, functions, decomposition, and comments
Description

Students will be introduced to cybersecurity and learn how cyberattacks can negatively affect businesses.

Objective

Students will learn why cybersecurity is an important consideration when developing any computer program.
Students will learn how cyberattacks can negatively affect a business.

Description

As students use the Internet, they are building their digital footprint. In this lesson, students understand how they can control and protect their footprint.

Objective

SWBAT understand how their online activity contributes to a permanent and public digital footprint.
SWBAT articulate their own social media guidelines to protect their digital footprint.

Description

Using best practices like setting strong passwords, reading privacy policies, and using https can help us stay safe online.

Objective

SWBAT use best practices in personal privacy and security, including strong passwords, using https, and reading privacy policies.

Description

Information literacy is having the ability to find information, evaluate information credibility, and use information effectively.

Objective

SWBAT effectively search for and evaluate resources.

Description

In this lesson, students will learn what copyright laws are and how to avoid copyright infringement. They will explore why copyright laws are important and how they protect the creators.

Objective

SWBAT explain what copyright laws are and why they are important
SWBAT find images they are legally allowed to use in their projects
SWBAT accurately attribute images they find and want to use

Description

A security hacker is someone who seeks to break through defenses and exploit weaknesses in a computer system or network. There are white hat hackers, who help companies find and protect exploits in their systems, and black hat hackers who hack maliciously.

Objective

SWBAT identify the difference between white hat hacking and black hat hacking
SWBAT sign an ethical hackers agreement, agreeing that they will only practice hacking under legal and ethical circumstances

Description

Digital Citizenship and Cyber Hygiene unit quiz

Objective

SWBAT complete the Digital Citizenship and Cyber Hygiene unit quiz

Description

In this lesson, students will learn how to print messages out onto the console using the Javascript command println.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Write a JavaScript program by typing commands with proper syntax in the start function
  • Write a program that prints out a message to the user
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to assign values to variables, manipulate those variable values, and use them in program statements. This is the introductory lesson into how data can be stored in variables.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain what variables are and what they are used for
  • Create their own variables
  • Print out the values stored in variables
Description

In this lesson, students learn how they can allow users to input information into their programs, and use that input accordingly.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Create programs that ask the user for input
  • Store user input in variables and print it back to the user
  • Choose the proper input function to use depending on the type of information needed
Description

In this lesson, students learn about the different mathematical operators they can use to perform mathematical computations and create useful programs that compute information for the user.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Describe the different mathematical operators we can use in programs
  • Create programs that use basic math to compute useful things
  • Create programs that take in user input, do simple computations with the input, and produce useful output
Description

In this lesson, students will learn the basics of creating graphics objects. Graphic creation relies on setting the type, shape, size, position, and color on the artist’s canvas before adding to the screen. Using the geometric concepts, and the concept of getWidth() and getHeight(), multiple graphic objects can be created in JavaScript.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Create graphical JavaScript programs that draw shapes on the canvas
  • Locate points on the graphics canvas using (x, y) coordinates
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how images are made up of pixels.

Objective

Students will learn what a pixel is and how they are used to create images.

Description

Students will enhance their pixel images by incorporating RGB colors to each pixel.

Objective

Students will be able to create images using RGB values.

Description

In this lesson, students will learn what pair programming is, why it is used, and the appropriate behaviors of a driver and navigator.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Effectively communicate their ideas to a partner
  • Successfully complete a coding exercise using pair programming
  • Identify the pros and cons of pair programming
Description

In this unit, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the JavaScript and Graphics unit to solve increasingly challenging puzzles.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define a problem in their own words and plan out a solution to the problem
  • Break a large problem down into smaller pieces and solve each of the pieces, then use these solutions as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Write clear and readable graphics programs
Description

In this lesson, students will learn more about boolean values. Booleans refer to a value that is either true or false, and are used to test whether a specific condition is true or false.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Create boolean variables to represent meaningful yes/no values
  • Print out the value of a boolean variable
Description

In this lesson, students will learn about logical operators. Logical operators allow students to connect or modify Boolean expressions. Three logical operators are the !, ||, && characters.

  • ! = NOT
  • || = OR
  • && = AND
Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Describe the meaning and usage of each logical operator: OR (||), AND (&&), and NOT (!)
  • Construct logical statements using boolean variables and logical operators
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to use comparison operators. Comparison operators let students compare two values.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain the meaning of each of the comparison operators (<, <=, >, >=, ==, !=)
  • Create programs using the comparison operators to compare values
  • Predict the boolean result of comparing two values
  • Print out the boolean result of comparing values
Description

In this lesson, students learn about if statements as a way to make decisions and execute specific code depending on the validity of a condition.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain the purpose of if statements
  • Create their own if statements to selective choose which code is executed in their programs
Description

In this lesson, students will learn in greater detail about for loops. For loops in Javascript are written and executed in the same manner as Karel exercises, except now students will explore modifying the initialization statement, test statement, and increment statements of the loops.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Create for loops in JavaScript
  • Explain the purpose of for loops
  • Utilize for loops to avoid typing out repeated code
  • Use the loop counter i inside the for loop code to do something different on each iteration
Description

In this lesson, students will explore in more detail how they can modify the initialization statement, test statement, and increment statement in a for loop.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain the three parts of the for loop (initialization statement, test statement, increment statement)
  • Create for loops that iterate differently than the basic for loop structure (ie count by twos or count backwards)
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how to create for loops to solve increasingly challenging problems by using nested for loops and branching control structures.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain the purpose of for loops
  • Create for loops to solve increasingly challenging problems
  • Create nested for loops
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how randomization can enhance a program and be used in combination with various control structures.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain why random numbers are a useful part of computer programs
  • Create random values in a program
  • Utilize the DOCS for the Randomizer class in order to learn how to generate random values
Description

In this lesson, students will explore while loops and JavaScript variables. This combines the ideas of creating variables, updating variables throughout a loop, and determining the correct ending condition.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain the purpose of a while loop
  • Create while loops to repeat code while a condition is true
  • Utilize while loops to solve new types of problems
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how to create a Loop and Half. A Loop and a Half is a specific way to write a while loop with the condition being true. Inside the loop, students create a SENTINEL value to break out of the loop whenever that condition is met, causing the loop to end.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain how the loop-and-a-half structure is different from a traditional while loop
  • Explain what an infinite loop is
  • Explain what the break statement does
  • Create programs that use the loop-and-a-half structure to repeat code until a SENTINEL is met, causing the program to break out of the loop
Description

In this unit, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the Control Structures unit to solve increasingly challenging puzzles.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define a problem in their own words and plan out a solution to the problem
  • Break a large problem down into smaller pieces and solve each of the pieces, then use these solutions as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Utilize the proper control structures to create general solutions
  • Write clear and readable code using control structures, decomposition, and comments
Description

In this lesson, students learn about functions and parameters in the context of JavaScript, which builds on their prior knowledge of working with functions in Karel. This lesson focuses specifically on defining and calling functions, and passing simple, single parameters to functions.

Objective

Students will be able to…

  • Explain the purpose of functions
  • Create JavaScript functions
  • Utilize JavaScript functions to solve simple problems
  • Create functions that take in parameters as input
Description

In this lesson, students will work with, define and call their own functions that take in multiple parameters as input and print out output.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of functions
  • Create JavaScript functions
  • Utilize JavaScript functions to solve simple problems
  • Create functions that take in multiple parameters as input, and use print statements for output
Description

In this lesson, students continue working with multiple parameters that create graphics as output which is very useful, since creating several different graphical objects involves writing the same code over and over again (set the size, set the color, set the location, etc).

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of functions
  • Create JavaScript functions
  • Utilize JavaScript functions to simplify graphics programs
  • Identify repeated code that can be simplified with functions and parameters
  • Create functions that take in multiple parameters as input, and create graphics as output
Description

In this lesson, students learn about return values so they can write functions that do some work and send the result back or use later in the program.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of returning a value from a function.
  • Create functions that return values.
  • Create programs that call functions with return values and store the result for later use.
Description

In this lesson, students work with and define functions with return values and more than one parameter.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the purpose of returning a value from a function.
  • Create functions that return values.
  • Create programs that call functions with return values and use the return values to solve a higher order problem.
Description

In this lesson, students will explore the scoping of a variable, which is where the variable is “defined” or where it exists.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Identify the scope of a variable
  • Identify which variables are in scope at a given point in a program
Description

In this unit, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the Functions and Parameters unit to solve increasingly challenging puzzles.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Synthesize the skills and concepts from the JavaScript and Graphics, JavaScript Control Structures, and the Functions and Parameters units to solve increasingly difficult programming challenges
  • Break down a large problem into smaller parts using Top Down Design, and solve each of these smaller parts using functions
  • Create helpful comments with preconditions and postconditions to help the reader understand the code
  • Find and fix bugs in large programs
Description

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of using timers for animation. Now instead of having graphics programs that stay the same, the content changes every time the timer runs. The first program students will see is a moving ball, so discussing this with the class as a demo on the projector is very useful.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain in their own words how animation works
  • Create animation in programs using the setTimer function
  • Explain what a callback function is
Description

In this lesson, we’ll look at more examples with timers and start making more interesting animations. Students will use timers and the Randomizer to create animations on the canvas.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create programs with timers to create increasingly challenging animations
  • Analyze existing programs and explain how they create animations
  • Utilize the Randomizer to generate random events in their animations
Description

In this lesson, students use timers in combination with the other ideas they have learned, including more graphics as well as coordinate math to create different objects. The random ghosts serves as a fun example to show how you can modify things once you have the basic building blocks in place to make them more readable and easier to alter.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the general workflow of creating an animation program
  • Analyze animation programs and identify similarities and differences
  • Create increasingly challenging animations using timers, graphics, and the Randomizer
Description

In this lesson, students build on the use of timers and utilize if statements inside timers to dynamically change what the animations are doing.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Create increasingly challenging animations that simulate movement using timers
Description

In this lesson, students are introduced to a way input can be taken from the user’s mouse using the mouse clicked method.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Describe how events are different than timers
  • Use mouse click events to create programs that respond to user clicks
Description

In this lesson, students learn how to extend mouse events to make interactive animations using the dragging motion of the mouse.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain how events are different from timers.
  • Create interactive programs that use events to respond to the mouse moving
Description

In this lesson we continue to use user input via the mouse to create interactive programs.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain how events are different from timers.
  • Create interactive programs that use events to respond to the mouse moving.
Description

In this lesson, students will learn how to use keyboard keys to control events. Keyboard events capture when the user presses keys on the keyboard. This allows students to write programs that take input from the keyboard to change what is happening in the program.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Explain how events are different from timers.
  • Create interactive programs that use events to respond to the keyboard input.
Description

In this lesson, students will create programs that combine multiple ideas from this unit.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Synthesize the skills and concepts learned in the Animation and Games unit to create advanced, interactive programs.
Description

In this unit, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the Animations unit to solve increasingly challenging puzzles.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Define a problem in their own words and plan out a solution to the problem
  • Break a large problem down into smaller pieces and solve each of the pieces, then use these solutions as building blocks to solve the larger problem
  • Utilize the proper control structures to create general solutions
  • Write clear and readable code using timers, events, control structures, functions, decomposition, and comments
Description

In this unit, students will bring together everything they have learned in the course to create a fully functional game.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Synthesize the skills and concepts from Java Script Control Structures, Functions and Parameters, and Animation and Games to create their very own Breakout game from scratch!
  • Break down a large problem into smaller parts using Top Down Design, and solve each of these smaller parts using functions
  • Create helpful comments with preconditions and postconditions to help the reader understand the code
  • Find and fix bugs in large programs
Description

In this final programming module, students will put together all of the concepts learned throughout the course to create a program of their choice. They will work with partners or in groups to creatively develop a program of their choosing.

Objective

Students will be able to:

  • Synthesize concepts and skills learned in the course to create their own final project.
  • Scope their project (eliminate features that aren’t necessary) so that it fits in the timeframe allotted.
  • Present their project to their classmates and talk about how the project was developed.