Rock CS 2023 | Rocky Mountain Computer Science Conference for P-12 Educators

My Coding Classroom will give you a glimpse at what I’ve figured out about how to teach text-based coding (Python) and other computer science courses to secondary students. If you want some tips about classroom management, collaboration, creativity, and curriculum, this is the session for you. Come prepared to learn and create as you are placed in a classroom environment and explore a great, free curriculum which you can use to teach coding.

One of the well documented issues with computer science is getting students excited and engaged with the idea of coding. Physical robotics allows students to see their coding come to life. Various platforms have been used to introduce students to CS at a young age, but few have the vertical integration as seen with VEX Robotics. From Pre-K to the collegiate level, students can code physical robots, making 'Drive forward' the new "Hello, World!"

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, physical robots in a face-to-face classroom became an impossibility. A virtual robot program was quickly developed to function with a familiar coding platform to provide students and teachers with an alternative robotic solution that could be used from anywhere. This has become a staple of classrooms across the world with over 3.6 million unique users to date.

In this session, attendees will learn about the robotics platforms used by students of various ages in the VEX Robotics continuum. In particular, attendees will be coding their own physical and virtual robots using the Castle Crasher challenge for VEX 123 and VEXcode VR. They will learn how activities like Castle Crasher can engage students of all ages with CS.

Are you looking for some fun and creative Java programming assignments and classroom activities?  Join this presentation and see several labs and activities that can be used in the APCSA course, an advanced Data Structures course or even an Intro to Java programming course.  Topics include biorhythms, Slot machine, Black Jack, Wordle, fractals, Conway’s Game of life, an n-body simulation and more.   I have found many of these labs have engaged girls in programming. Participants will receive descriptions, student starter code and solutions. Many of the labs incorporate graphics or a GUI. There will be time for questions at the end. Participants should have experience programming in Java and teaching high school computer science.

Participant Skill Prerequisites: Ability to program in Java

Are you a teacher that finds yourself wanting to integrate computer science and real world problems into your classroom? In this session we will look at ways to bring computer science and work based learning opportunities to any content area. We will showcase self-paced computer science modules that help unpack the fundamentals of computer science education. CS for Success and Thrively have partnered to bring educators the opportunity to learn the basics of computer science, unpack the standards, and build an integrative approach to teaching computer science through the lens of any content area. Each participant will walk away with a plan, resources to help you integrate CS, and free access to the computer science learning modules and a Thrively pro license. 

This session will help teachers access both Girls Who Code Club curriculum and Career and Technical Student Organization topics and competitive events to create fun classroom projects. Connecting academic standards with authentic demonstrations of student learning and development of career-readiness skills.  The goal is to connect academic standards to real-world problems, utilizing computer science skills to create a solution. Participants will engage in cooperative learning strategies and hands-on activities to create a classroom project or game of their choice.

Gimkit: https://www.gimkit.com/join/64838b70f78aac002b595590

Nearpod Slides (Student-paced version): https://app.nearpod.com/?pin=NIK2F

Put down the screen and come and play! We are going to learn some basics of computational thinking through hands-on activities that can be taken as-is into the classroom or adjusted to fit your curriculum at a variety of levels.  Learn about algorithms, events, loops and conditionals as we play games, draw pictures, and get moving. Why? Because computational thinking enables real-world problem solving.  No experience necessary.

Slide Link

In this session, participants will use AgentCubes Online, a development platform, to create one or more 3-D games (e.g., Pacman), followed by transitioning to creating a science model (e.g., wildfire simulation) using the same techniques. Participants will have full access to the software, which is normally subscription-based.

PLEASE CREATE AN ACCOUNT AT AGENTSHEETS.COM!!
In order to have full access to the software, you must create a login on the AgentSheets.com site. Use the link below to do this:
https://agentsheets.com/

Once you have created your account, please fill in the information in the Google form at the link below.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSdFy08teotNeeWvUvQ2Sqs_IBGxb8FWdxZ24mEJaQFWWcaw/viewform

NOTE: The software currently requires one of the following devices: Windows computer, Macintosh computer, ChromeBook

Link to the presentation and resources:  https://sites.google.com/view/game-design-and-science-model/home

Please note: Fred will be presenting remotely, with Corrina & Mark on site to support teachers.

For your students to be successful in an IT career, they must understand the cloud: what it is, and how it works. It is incumbent upon serious computer technology teachers to offer cloud training. Three of the top cloud vendors are: (1) Amazon Web Services (AWS), (2) Microsoft Azure, and (3) Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

AWS is the largest and most developed of them all. Teaching AWS is not a walk in the park as it offers 200+ different services. Working with the cloud requires an understanding of myriad technologies: virtualization, relational and non-relational databases, hardware choices (CPU, RAM, etc.), operating system choices, and security, among others.

In this presentation I will show you a bit of what AWS Academy (your entrée into teaching AWS to students) looks like, and I will also show you the AWS interface itself. One of the best features of teaching AWS is that everything can be done via a browser. However, please be aware that the AWS interface in and of itself is a lot to learn. I want to caution you that this is a "long haul" endeavor. You will NOT know everything there is to know about AWS in this session, but my hope is that you will leave the session encouraged to explore in more depth how you can get involved and help students add a huge paragraph to their technical resume when they are applying for those first IT positions.

Participant Skill Prerequisites: The more you know about topics like virtualization, the better off you'll be. Additionally, if you have a sense of what "client/server computing" is, you'll have an easier time grasping the subject.  

Put down the screen and come and play! We are going to learn some basics of computational thinking through hands-on activities that can be taken as-is into the classroom or adjusted to fit your curriculum at a variety of levels.  Learn about algorithms, events, loops and conditionals as we play games, draw pictures, and get moving. Why? Because computational thinking enables real-world problem solving.  No experience necessary.

Slide Link