Chapter 1: Programming Languages and Algorithms

  1. Lesson 1: The Need for Programming Languages
  2. Lesson 2: The Need for Algorithms
  3. Lesson 3: Creativity in Algorithms
  4. Lesson 4: Using Simple Commands
  5. Lesson 5: Creating Actions
  6. Lesson 6: Actions and Top-Down Design
  7. Lesson 7: APIs/Libraries and Action Parameters
  8. Lesson 8: Creating Actions with Parameters
  9. Lesson 9: Looping and Random Numbers

Big Questions

  • Why do we need algorithms?
  • How is designing an algorithm to solve a problem different from other kinds of problem solving?
  • How do you design a solution for a problem so that is programmable?
  • What does it mean to be a "creative" programmer?
  • How do programmers collaborate?

Enduring Understandings

  • 1.1 Creative development can be an essential process for creating computational artifacts.
  • 1.2 Computing enables people to use creative development processes to create computational artifacts for creative expression or to solve a problem.
  • 2.2 Multiple levels of abstraction are used to write programs or create other computational artifacts.
  • 4.1 Algorithms are precise sequences of instructions for processes that can be executed by a computer and are implemented using programming languages.
  • 5.1 Programs can be developed for creative expression, to satisfy personal curiosity, to create new knowledge, or to solve problems (to help people, organizations, or society).
  • 5.2 People write programs to execute algorithms.
  • 5.3 Programming is facilitated by appropriate abstractions.

Optional Lessons