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Computational Thinking: Creating Problem Solvers – Online

 

Mold the students of today into the problem solvers and critical thinkers of tomorrow. This course provides a snapshot of the Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science Frameworks Computational Thinking strand and its related standards. It will supply you with a variety of creative ways to weave these standards into your teaching. We will use elements of technology and social media throughout the workshop to integrate key computational thinking concepts into students’ daily lives.

Course Details

Audience Grades 3-5, Tech Specialists
Level All
Instructor Rochelle Cooper
Dates October 22 – November 19
Earn 15 PDPs
Location Online
MassCUE Member Cost $150
Non-Member Cost $190
Limit 20 Participants
Prerequisites
Graduate Credit (Pending) At the first class, participants may choose to register for 1 graduate credit through Worcester State University for an additional fee of $125. All participants, including those who do not opt for graduate credit, will receive a certificate documenting the number of course hours attended. 

Rochelle Cooper

Rochelle Cooper has been a certified educator for the past 15 years.  She began her teaching career as a special education 1:1 aide and spent the next 10 years as a 5th grade classroom teacher at Lynnfield Middle School.   Rochelle received her undergraduate degree in English from Holy Cross College and her Masters Degree in Teaching from Simmons College. She is currently an Educational Consultant specializing in Digital Learning….and a lover of all things Google. 

 

 

In this four week online workshop, participants will deep dive into the Computational Thinking strand of the MA DLCS frameworks [7] for grades 3-5.  Each weekly session will follow a set format:

Learn It: Watch videos and review lesson plans that connect the concepts above to actual students in the classroom.

Do It: Create your own activity in the “Activity Factory” based upon the concepts above that can be used and applied in your educational realm.

Share It: Discuss your experiences for the week in a discussion group with your fellow participants. Reflect personally on your learning.

Prove It: Demonstrate your acquired knowledge for this session and show off what you learned in a weekly “Show and Tell”.

Week 1: Abstraction & Algorithms

Week 2: Data

Week 3: Programming & Development

Week 4: Modeling & Simulation

Project Description: Those educators wishing to receive one credit from WSU will be creating a comprehensive portfolio of lesson plans in the area of Computational Thinking.

3-5.CT.a.1 Use numbers or letters to represent information in another form (e.g., secret codes, Roman numerals, abbreviations). 3-5.CT.a.2 Organize information in different ways to make it more useful/relevant (e.g., sorting, tables). 3-5.CT.a.3 Make a list of sub-problems to consider, while addressing a larger problem. 3-5.CT.b.1 Define an algorithm as a sequence of instructions that can be processed by a computer. 3-5.CT.b.2 Recognize that different solutions exist for the same problem (or sub-problem). 3-5.CT.b.3 Use logical reasoning to predict outcomes of an algorithm. 3-5.CT.b.4 Individually and collaboratively create an algorithm to solve a problem (e.g., move a character/robot/person through a maze).

 

Sign Up for This Workshop

Computational Thinking: Creating Problem Solvers October 22, 2018 – November 19, 2018 Four online weekly sessions

Register Now [8]