CS & IT Symposium 2010: Teaching Computer Programming to Middle School Students

Computer Science Teachers Association
Computer Science and Information Technology Symposium
July 13, 2010

Teaching Computer Programming to Middle School Students using Basic and Scratch
Presented by Craig Whitmore
We discuss an ongoing Middle School Computer Programming course that uses freeware programs (Chipmunk BASIC and Scratch) to expose students to computer programming. In this course, students create their own text adventure game in Chipmunk BASIC and their own graphic games in Scratch. The course of study is described in detail and student work is displayed. Handouts include a semester-length course-of-study, instructional worksheets, student work examples, and source weblinks. Topics in the course include programming logic and concepts (variable input and manipulation, conditional statements, logical progression, debugging, random number generation), basic game design, and simple object-oriented programming, as well as several ancillary topics (Choose Your Own Adventure genre of books, Zork text adventure game, and ASCII art). This has been one of the most popular elective courses at the presenter's middle school for the past six years.

For more information, please see http://csta.acm.org/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• google
• tech
• talk
• computer
• science
• education

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