November 23, 2021
Middle School Computer Science
New Code Academy is an online school that provides each student the opportunity to focus on Computer Science (CS), sometimes as a distinct content area and sometimes in an integrated class. Computer science is learning about how computers work and “think”, how we can program computers, and how computers impact our daily lives and our future work. We want all our students to be confident in their power to use technology to solve problems and express their ideas, no matter what they choose to do or pursue later in life.
Mr. Cozzolino, our Middle School Computer Science teacher, explained why CS is important for our students: “The way I see it, even if they don’t go on to do Computer Science professionally, technology will be a part of their future. The more comfortable they are with using it and seeing how it is a tool to help us in our daily lives is good for them now and in the future.” In Minnesota, access to Computer Science education can be rare; Minnesota recently landed at the bottom of the list - 50th out of the 50 states - for High Schools that offer CS courses according to the Code.org landscape report.
Our middle school CS program experience varies over the course of the year. All three grade levels started quarter one with a foundational content course in CS. As the year progresses, they will experience integrated courses - CS & Art and CS & Health, as well as an additional advanced CS course. The rest of the courses will also continue to look for the connections to the study of computer science like identifying patterns in language or abstraction in analyzing problems in math.
This past quarter, 6th - 8th graders experienced some of the foundations of CS. One theme throughout the term was practicing the concepts and approaches of computational thinking. Computational thinking is a type of thinking computer scientists use that helps them to solve complex problems; this set of thinking skills also helps to solve complex problems across disciplines as well. According to Mr. Cozzolino, “In CS, Computational Thinking skills really just break down problems in a systematic way that is applicable to all content areas now and in the future.” For example, one computational thinking concept is identifying and writing algorithms, which is a series of steps or rules. Algorithms are applied to tell computers what to do, but they are also applied in solving algebraic problems or writing step-by-step directions.
The students also practiced their coding skills using block coding programs like Scratch to learn some of the skills of coding like loops and if/then statements. As part of this learning, students used the power of computers to express themselves in completing the “About Me” project in Scratch. Students created an animation or game in Scratch to help others learn about their identity and personality. Check out some of the students’ work!
As students move into 2nd quarter our 6th graders will continue with a second Computer Science course while our 7th graders move to an Art + CS integrated course. They’ll learn the Art standards while also studying the intersection of Art & CS, applying both skill sets at the same time. Our 8th graders have moved to their Health & CS integrated course this term as well. We look forward to seeing what they problems they solve and ideas they express!
