Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with NASA-JPL

"NASA/JPL Edu" <education@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Mon, 09 Dec 2019 19:31:26 -0500



Title: Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with NASA-JPL


                              Celebrate Computer Science Education Week with NASA-JPL

                              It's Computer Science Education Week, an annual event meant to encourage and inspire K-12 students to explore coding. Students, teachers and curious learners of all ages are encouraged to participate by using an hour of their week to create computer code as part of the Hour of Code initiative.
                              
                              Whether your students are experienced programmers or just learning the basics, this is a great opportunity to take part and get students engaged in computer science! Try these standards-aligned lessons from NASA/JPL Edu to get involved and bring the excitement of NASA missions to students:
                                            
                              Lessons for Educators

                              
                                      Lesson: Explore Mars With Scratch (Grades 3-8) –Students learn about surface features on Mars, then use a visual programming language to create a Mars exploration game.
                                    
                                  
                                      Lesson: Heat Flow Programming Challenge (Grades 5-12) – Students use microcontrollers and temperature sensors to measure the flow of heat through a soil sample.
                                    
                                  
                                      Lesson: Robotics – Engineering a Rocket Transporter (Grades 6-9) – Students design, build and program a robotic “super crawler” to transport a payload from a starting position to a target launch pad, deliver the payload in an upright position and return the robot to the starting point.
                                    
                                  
                                      Lesson: Robotics – Making a Self-Driving Rover (Grades 6-9) – In this challenge, students must program a rover to get from point A to point B on a map without driving across any of the craters located between the two points.
                                    
                                  
                                      Lesson: Robotics – Creating a Roving Science Lab (Grades 6-9) – In this challenge, students will program a rover to use a color sensor on several rock samples, allowing them to simulate how the Mars Curiosity rover uses its ChemCam instrument to analyze light emitted from geological samples on Mars.
                                    
                                  
                              Activities for Students

                              
                                      Project: Make a Moon or Mars Rover Game – Students learn about surface features on Mars, then use a visual programming language to create a Mars exploration game.
                                    
                                  
                                      Explore Mars: A Mars Rover Game – Always wanted to cruise around on the surface of another planet? Well, you’re in luck! In Explore Mars, you will be driving a rover on Mars and collecting information about Martian rocks.
                                    
                                  
                              Explore more STEM lessons from NASA/JPL Edu online at jpl.nasa.gov/edu/teach. Learn more about Computer Science Week, here.