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MSM Unit 1: Things Break Apart

This is the page for Making Sense of Models Unit 1: Things Break Apart.

Assessing Youth's Computational Thinking (2011)

AERA conference proceedings 2011

Pair Programming video

This short video (2:51 minutes) features two middle school girls describing and practicing pair programming. It is a great introduction to this method of learning programming and creating models.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology video - image of birds flocking

Complex Adaptive Systems Modeling Video

This short video (3:13 minutes) introduces complex adaptive systems and agent-based modeling concepts to middle-school students. It shows beautiful footage of birds flocking as an example of a complex adaptive system.

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.

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)

Decode NYC Models

In the NSF-funded DecodeNYC program at the American Museum of Natural History, middle school students use the agent-based game and simulation programming environment StarLogo Nova to use, modify, decode, and create scientific models to test different strategies for fighting Lyme disease and answer questions about their urban ecosystem.

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

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.

Piedra, papel o tijera

El clásico juego en versión StarLogo NOVA

Trailblazers Activity for Virtual Instruction

The Trailblazers activity from Module 1 - Lesson 3 modified to be done in a synchronous virtual learning environment.

Dice and Data Activity for Virtual Instruction

Dice and Data Activity from Module 1 Lesson 4. Adapted for use in a synchronous instructional setting.

Walk & Turn for StarLogo Nova

This is the CS in Science, Module 1, Activity 1 activity. Students participate in an activity acting as agents, then view a computer model, to introduce concepts of computer science and complex adaptive systems.

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