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Skill Building Deck

A slide deck of exercises to build CS and decoding skills

Modeling MRSA in Chicago (scientist talk)

This is a talk Dr. Chick Macal gave to GUTS teachers at a Chicago PD workshop in 2015.

Teacher testimonial: Corinna Low

This video shows an interview of Corinna Low, a middle school science teacher from South San Francisco.

Teacher encouragement

In this video, Corinna Low give teachers words of encouragement to try the Project GUTS CS in Science curriculum.

Models in the Classroom

In this video, GUTS teachers talk about using models within science classrooms.

Dispositions and Classroom Culture

In this video, GUTS teachers talk about instilling dispositions and classroom culture that supports scientific inquiry and the development of computational thinking.

Using Computer Models in Scientific Inquiry

In this video, a Project GUTS teacher explains how and why we use computer models in science classrooms.

Teaching Tip - How to organize and share student work

Tips on how to set up a folder so students can share their work in an online gallery of sorts.

Image from Understanding by Design cover page

Understanding by Design (UbD) curriculum offers a 3-stage “backward design” framework for developing units of study. The same process guides larger-scale curriculum development for courses and
programs (macro level). The UbD curriculum structure for building a coherent curriculum spirals around “big ideas,” essential questions, and core assessments.

Teaching Computer Science and Creating Independent Learners

A video (7:54) for teachers and facilitators with helpful techniques on facilitating design-and-build activities in ways then encourage students to become self-sufficient problem solvers.

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.

Getting Unstuck: Karen Brennan's "8 for 8"

This 8:13 minute video gives techniques for facilitating classrooms of students who are working on projects.

Kinesthetic Flower Turtles Activity

This activity is an extension to the CS in Science Module 1, Lesson 2, between activity 1 and activity 2. It is a kinesthetic activity to show how the agents behave according to a certain program. It can replace the activity that is there or be used as an extension or add on to the listed activities.

Scientific Practices and Computational Thinking in Modeling & Simulation

This document is a handout used to reflect on the scientific practices and computational thinking involved in a Project GUTS module or lesson.

Trailblazers

Trailblazers is a fun pencil and paper activity where students write simple instructions for another student to navigate a maze. The instructions are drawn on the maze as commands (if square is red, turn right, etc.) and then students exchange papers to navigate the maze following only the commands. This is a preliminary activity for the Bumper Turtles coding activity.