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7th Grade Semester Long Introduction to Computer Science
PROJECT LEAD THE WAY COMPUTER SCIENCE (Intermediate) (Semester) Throughout the unit, students will learn about programming for the physical world by blending hardware design and software development, allowing students to discover computer science concepts and skills by creating personally relevant, tangible and shareable projects while working in groups.
Course Outline
7th Grade PLTW Semester Long Computer Science for Innovators and Makers/App Inventor
Wednesday’s are reserved for individual work on creating six applications over the course of the semester using the kindle devices and the MIT App Building Software. The remaining days are used for group work to understand the BBC microbit micro-controller in order to create two creative projects that utilize the available sensors and motors. Students are guided through the PLTW curriculum via their online PLTW accounts. This curriculum asks them to answer questions at the end of each Activity in their notebooks as well as document what they have learned and record necessary settings for each input and output. The curriculum is designed to be used however you need it. Several PLTW teachers skip parts or do not have the opportunity to finish everything. It depends on the length of the class and sometimes the students. There are three lessons in this curriculum and each lesson is divided up into several activities. Most of the time we can get through an activity in one 90 minute class period. I have found that it is nice to give students new partners or groups for each activity and project.
In addition to the PLTW curriculum and MIT App Inventor assignments I have also added my own hands on lessons on computer hardware/software and how computers work in place of the PLTW lesson 1.2 “Digital Dive” and a quiz testing students on this lesson. I added a project on Important Tech figures (see below) and understanding appropriate cables and how they work. I also take a part of a class period to talk about how computers are marketed and students complete a purchasing exercise in which groups are given a different company website to purchase from and have to see who can get the best deal with the same amount of purchasing power.
Subjects/Activities and Lessons by Week
Week 1 – Introduction, Syllabus, Start Hello Meow App, set up Google Classroom, Introduction to Hardware, What Do Programmers Actually Do
Week 2 – App Builder, Into to final projects Activity 1.1, How to Purchase Computers exercise and finish notes for test.
Week 3 – App Builder, Quiz #1 on Computer Hardware/Software, Intro to Flo Charts Activity 1.2, Understanding Algorithms, Activity 1.3 on Inputs and outputs, Notebooks graded
Week 4 – App Builder, Activity 1.4 – Debugging Code, Activity 1.4 Continued and Microbit Light Sensor
Week 5 – App Builder, Activity 1.5 – Accelerometer and Compass, Started Tech Figures, Assigned Groups and Chose Figures
Week 6 – App Builder, Light Sensors, LED Output, Notebooks graded, Graded first two apps (Meow and 8-Ball)
Week 7 – App Builder, Continued Tech Figures Reports
Week 8 – App Builder, Presentations
Week 9 – App Builder, Course Evaluation Forms and Videos
Week 10 – App Builder, Activity 2.1 – Photocell Resister, Intro to Keep it Safe Project, Sound Output
Week 11 – App Builder, Activity 2.1 – Flex Sensor and Pressure Sensor, Notebooks graded, Grade Apps Paint Pot and Mole Mash
Week 12 – App Builder, Activity 2.1 – Make your Own Input, Start on Safe Project, Groups and Planning Time
Week 13 – Activity 2.2 – Outputs, Led’s and Buzzers/Headphones, Grade Apps Creative 1
Week 14 – Present Safe Projects, Grade Notebooks
Week 15 – Start Final Project
Week 16 – Final Project Design and Builds, Grade Final App Creative 2
Week 17 – Final Project Builds and Grading, Final Notebook Grading
Week 18 – Present Final Projects
Resources
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Wikipedia definition of "Flash of Genius"
The flash of genius doctrine, or test, was a test for patentability used by the United States Federal Courts for over a decade, beginning about 1941. The doctrine was formalized in Cuno Engineering v. Automatic Devices,[1] which held that the inventive act had to come into the mind of an inventor in a "flash of genius" and not as a result of tinkering. "The new device, however useful it may be, must reveal the flash of creative genius, not merely the skill of the calling. If it fails, it has not established its right to a private grant on the public domain."[2] The test was eventually rejected by Congress in its 1952 revision of the patent statute, now codified in Title 35 of the United States Code. Section 103 was amended to state the new standard of non-obviousness: "Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made." The United States Supreme Court acknowledged this new language in its landmark opinion on obviousness, Graham v. John Deere Co.,[3] noting that the language in Cuno establishing the doctrine had never been intended to create a new standard in the first instance.[4]
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