What is CS Discoveries?
Computer Science Discoveries (CS Discoveries) is an introductory computer science course that empowers students to create authentic artifacts and engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun.
Designed with equity in mind
CS Discoveries is designed from the ground up to be an accessible and engaging course for all students, regardless of background or prior experience. It provides students opportunities to engage with culturally and personally relevant topics in a wide variety of contexts and aims to show all students that CS is for them.
Focus on creation
We know that giving students agency in their learning is a powerful tool for creating fun, engaging, and lasting learning experiences. CS Discoveries focuses on the skills that enable students to create and express themselves in a variety of contexts and media. Whether they are developing their own website, designing an app, building a game, or creating a physical computing device, students are empowered to bring their ideas to life.
Completing a K-12 pathway
CS Discoveries is designed to fit naturally between our CS Fundamentals courses and our CS Principles course. While each of these courses is designed to be an age-appropriate entry point to computer science, students with previous experience will find many new topics to explore, and they will revisit familiar topics in novel and more challenging contexts.
Supports for new-to-CS teachers
CS Discoveries is specifically designed to support new-to-CS teachers. The curriculum includes detailed lesson plans, and frequent teaching tips. The accompanying forum is an active community of support that teachers can use to discuss their practice and find additional resources. Teachers can also apply for our professional learning program for further support.
Flexible Implementation
CS Discoveries was specifically designed for 7th to 9th grade classrooms and can be used in either middle school or high school. The two semesters build on each other, allowing the course to be taught as a single semester, two sequential semesters, a full-year course, or even integrated into existing technology classes.
Powerful tools with a high ceiling
CS Discoveries introduces students to tools and programming languages that are accessible for beginners while offering more advanced students opportunities to create sophisticated projects. Using our existing App Lab programming environment and our new programming environment, Game Lab, students will be able to transition from blocks to typed code at their own pace while learning JavaScript. Students will also develop maker skills through the study of physical computing at a very accessible cost.
Units
Unit 1 - Problem Solving
This unit is a highly interactive and collaborative introduction to the field of computer science, as framed within the broader pursuit of solving problems. ... more
Unit 2 - Web Development
In this unit, students are empowered to create and share the content on their own web pages. They begin by thinking about the role of the web, and how it can... more
Unit 3 - Interactive Games and Animations
In this unit, students build on their coding experience as they create programmatic images, animations, interactive art, and games. Starting off with simple,... more
Unit 4 - The Design Process
This unit transitions students from thinking about computer science as a tool to solve their own problems towards considering the broader social impacts of c... more
Unit 5 - Data and Society
This unit is about the importance of data in solving problems and highlights how computers can help in this process. The first chapter explores different sys... more
Unit 6 - Physical Computing
In Unit 6, students further develop their programming skills, while exploring more deeply the role of hardware platforms in computing. Harkening back to the ... more