Lesson 1: Learn to Drag and Drop
Overview
This lesson will give students an idea of what to expect when they head to the computer lab. It begins with a brief discussion introducing them to computer lab manners, then they will progress into using a computer to complete online puzzles.
Purpose
The main goal of this lesson is to build students' experience with computers. By covering the most basic computer functions such as clicking, dragging, and dropping, we are creating a more equal playing field in the class for future puzzles. This lesson also provides a great opportunity to introduce basic computer hardware terminology, potentially including "mouse", "trackpad" or "touchscreen", depending on your devices.
Agenda
Warm Up (10 min)
Preview Online Puzzles (5 min)
Main Activity (20 - 30 min)
Wrap Up (5 - 10 min)
Extension Activities
View on Code Studio
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Recognize what is expected when students transition into the computer lab.
- Use appropriate terminology when referring to a computer mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen.
Preparation
- Create your own class section on Code.org and make sure every student has a card with their passcode on it.
- Make sure students will be able to access Lesson 2 from their devices. Consider whether you want to hide future lessons to prevent students from moving ahead too quickly.
- Have the school IT person add a quick link for your class section to the computer desktop.
- Review the Common Sense Education website for more online safety content.
Links
Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.
For the Teachers
- How to Make a Class Section on Code.org - Teacher Video
For the Students
- Think Spot Journal - Reflection Journal
- Pair Programming - Student Video
- Feeling Faces - Emotion Images
Support
Report a Bug
Teaching Guide
Warm Up (10 min)
Content Corner
Teaching this course as a class?
Our grade-aligned CS Fundamentals courses use unplugged lessons to build community and introduce tricky computer science concepts, including digital citizenship. Check out the lesson Going Places Safely from Course A!
Behaving in the Computer Lab
Goal: This discussion will teach students what to expect and how to behave when they enter the computer lab.
Discussion Goals:
- Use calm bodies in the lab
- Remember not to chew gum or candy
- Sanitize your hands
- Sit with your partner at one computer
- Make sure that the first "driver" can reach the mouse
- When you get frustrated, don't hit or shake the computer or monitor
- Follow the 20/20/20 - Website rule
- How to deal with the Wiggles every 20-30 minutes (requires a free login on GoNoodle)
- Ask your partner before you ask the teacher
- Keep volume down so everyone else can hear their partners
- Use your journal for keeping track of feelings and solutions
Discuss
Have a good discussion around the computer lab expectations to make sure that students understand the rules. Some topics of discussion might include:
- Is running in the computer lab okay?
- How loudly should we walk when we are in the computer lab?
- What should you do if you get stuck on a puzzle?
- If you get frustrated, will it help to hit the computer?
- When we're about to go to the computer lab, how should we get ready?
Preview Online Puzzles (5 min)
Project a puzzle from lesson 1. Show the class how to click on the picture and place it in the correct spot by dragging and dropping. Purposely make mistakes such as clicking the background or dropping the image before it's at the right spot. Ask for help from volunteers in the class when you run into these problems.
Main Activity (20 - 30 min)
Learn to Drag and Drop
Goal: This will teach students how to use Code.org to complete online puzzles.
This stage was designed to give students the opportunity to practice hand-eye coordination, clicking, and drag & drop skills. Students will also play with sequence.
Content Corner
Considering having students break down the steps of dragging and dropping and record them on the board. For example:
- Move the arrow to the block.
- Click and hold the mouse button.
- Move the mouse.
- Let go of the button.
Doing this will give students practice with creating an algorithm, which is a concept that will be explored in upcoming lessons.
Take some time to explicitly teach how to click, drag, and drop. Take time to introduce the language around the devices students will be using when they work on the puzzles. If you have tablets, students will be using a touch screen. If you have laptops, they will likely be using a trackpad. Desktop computers like you might find in a lab will rely on the use of the mouse.
Place kids in pairs and have them watch the pair programming video as a class or at their stations. This should help students start off in the right direction.
Teacher Tip
Show the students the right way to help classmates:
- Don’t sit in the classmate’s chair
- Don’t use the classmate’s keyboard
- Don’t touch the classmate’s mouse
- Make sure the classmate can describe the solution to you out loud before you walk away
Teachers play a vital role in computer science education and supporting a collaborative and vibrant classroom environment. During online puzzles, the role of the teacher is primarily one of encouragement and support. Online puzzles are meant to be student-centered, so teachers should avoid stepping in when students get stuck. Some ideas on how to do this are:
- Utilize pair programming whenever possible during the activity.
- Encourage students with questions/challenges to start by asking their partner.
- Unanswered questions can be escalated to a nearby group, who might already know the solution.
- Remind students to use the debugging process before you approach.
- Have students describe the problem that they’re seeing. What is it supposed to do? What does it do? What does that tell you?
- Remind frustrated students that frustration is a step on the path to learning, and that persistence will pay off.
- If a student is still stuck after all of this, ask leading questions to get the student to spot an error on their own.
Wrap Up (5 - 10 min)
Journaling
Goal: Help students reflect on the things they learned in this lesson
Give the students a journal prompt to help them process some of the things that they encountered during the day.
Journal prompts could include:
- Draw one of the feeling faces that shows how you felt about today's lesson in the corner of your journal page.
- Can you draw a sequence for getting ready to go to the computer lab?
- Draw a computer lab "Do" and a "Don't"
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- Draw and label the name of the computer part you used when clicking and dragging during the puzzles. (mouse button, touch screen, trackpad)
Extension Activities
If students complete the puzzles from Stage 4 early, have them spend some time trying to come up with their own puzzles in their Think Spot Journal - Reflection Journal.
Student Instructions
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Student Instructions
Standards Alignment
View full course alignment
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017)
AP - Algorithms & Programming
- 1A-AP-11 - Decompose (break down) the steps needed to solve a problem into a precise sequence of instructions.
CS - Computing Systems
- 1A-CS-02 - Use appropriate terminology in identifying and describing the function of common physical components of computing systems (hardware).
Cross-curricular Opportunities
This list represents opportunities in this lesson to support standards in other content areas.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards
L - Language
- K.L.6 - Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.
SL - Speaking & Listening
- K.SL.1 - Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- K.SL.2 - Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
- K.SL.5 - Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
Common Core Math Standards
MP - Math Practices
- MP.1 - Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
- MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively
- MP.5 - Use appropriate tools strategically
- MP.6 - Attend to precision
- MP.7 - Look for and make use of structure
- MP.8 - Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Next Generation Science Standards
ETS - Engineering in the Sciences
ETS1 - Engineering Design
- K-2-ETS1-1 - Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
- K-2-ETS1-2 - Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.
PS - Physical Science
PS3 - Energy
- K-PS3-2 - Use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.*[Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include umbrellas, canopies, and tents that minimize the warming effect of the sun.