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Module 1 Lesson 3 - Conditionals with Trailblazer and Bumper Turtles

In this lesson students will participate in two activities. In the first they will
learn about conditionals, logic, and Boolean expressions as they guide an
agent through a puzzle. They also consider the best path / solution and the degree of universality of their solution. In the second activity, students will learn a few simple commands and then starting with a basic project, implement a Bumper Turtles program in which agents respond to their environment.

Assessing Youth's Computational Thinking (2011)

AERA conference proceedings 2011

StarLogo Nova Blocks and Drawers Guide for StarLogo Nova 2.0

This is the updated StarLogo Nova blocks and drawers guide created by Jennifer Krause. Shared with us by the ModelBEST team! This guide corresponds to StarLogo Nova 2.0 (HTML5/JavaScript version).
Maria Levy created another version in high resolution that is also available below.

Code Blocks for CS in Science Module 4 (Chemical Reactions)

Use this document while decoding the base model in CS in Science, Module 4: Chemical Reactions.
Select the relevant link below, depending on whether you are using StarLogo Nova 1.0 (flash version) or StarLogo Nova 2.0(HTML5/JavaScript version).

Facilitator Resources (from 2019)

This is a set of resources to help Facilitators prepare for Workshops.

My Robotic Friends (cups activity)

This is the cups activity by Thinkersmith (later part of Code.org)

What's Represented?

These exercises ask the learner to identify abstractions in the computer model as compared to a diagram or image of a natural phenomenon.

Skill Building Deck

A slide deck of exercises to build CS and decoding skills

Computational Thinking for Youth in Action (2011)

This is an early paper of Computational Thinking that has a lot of traction. It's where we first describe the Use-Modify-Create trajectory.

Application of the Occupational Analysis of Computational Thinking-Enabled STEM Professionals as a Program Assessment Tool (2012)

Journal of Computational Science Education (2012)

Piedra, papel o tijera

El clásico juego en versión StarLogo NOVA

Integrating Computational Thinking Across the K-8 Curriculum (2014)

ACM InRoads (2014)

Reclaiming the roots of CT (2016)

CSTA Voice 2016

Preparing STEM Teachers to offer Computer Science for All (2017)

ACM SIGCSE 2017

Profile of a CT Integration Specialist (2017)

Computational Thinking Education 2017 conference

Developing a framework for computational thinking from a disciplinary perspective (2018)

Proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Thinking
Education 2018. Hong Kong: The Education University of Hong Kong.

Making Sense of Models one page description

This is a document that describes the Making Sense of Models project.

Module 1 Lesson 1 - Introduction to Complex Adaptive Systems and Computer Modeling and Simulation

The introductory lesson in Module 1, consisting of two activities. In the 1st activity, students will do a participatory simulation called "Turn & Walk" that will expose them to the characteristics of complex adaptive systems. In the 2nd activity, students will be led “under the hood” and get an overview of some of the parts of a computer model.

Module 1 Lesson 2 - Introduction to StarLogo Nova and Building Flower Turtles

In this lesson students will participate in two activities. The first activity is a guided introduction to the StarLogo Nova simulation environment. In the second activity, students will learn a few simple commands and then create their first computer program. Students will progress from single turtle explorations to instructing many turtles to follow their commands in parallel.

Photo of participants playing 27 Blind Mice

Alternate activities to introduce Project GUTS

Sometimes, teachers have a students who have already participated in Project GUTS introductory activities, and want to use something different, or want another activity to expand a lesson. Below are links to some alternate activities, both hands-on and on-line, for you to explore.

Search for "[keyword]" across the whole site.