Intro to Computer Science Grades 9 to 10
Design, write, test and launch a paper app for a Moon greenhouse, and learn how data, networks and computing shape the world.
Free, start to finish. No card. Every week opens without signing in.
- Grade
- Grades 9 to 10
- Length
- 12 weeks
- Pace
- 6 short lessons a week, about 20 minutes each
- Price
- Free, every week
About this course
Intro to Computer Science Grades 9 to 10 is a 12-week introductory computer science course for high schoolers. Students build Beacon, a paper prototype of an app that watches the plants in the crew's Moon greenhouse and relays readings to mission control. They plan it with users in mind, write it in pseudocode with variables, conditionals, loops, lists and procedures, compare search algorithms, and test and debug it. Then they encode data in binary, compress and clean it, send messages as packets through a paper network, and finish with a launch review on security, privacy and fairness. It covers the five big ideas of AP Computer Science Principles and practices CSTA Level 3A standards; it is not an AP course and is not affiliated with College Board. Short daily lessons with checked answers, an unplugged Beacon Lab each week and a Saturday Mission Quest for the family. No accounts, apps or software needed. 100% free, start to finish.
Kids will
- Plan a program from users' needs with requirements and a storyboard
- Write and trace pseudocode with variables, conditionals, loops, lists and procedures
- Compare linear and binary search and reason about algorithm efficiency
- Test with edge cases, find and fix errors, and document code for others
- Represent data in binary, compress it and draw honest conclusions from it
- Explain how the internet routes packets and weigh security, privacy and bias in computing
The 12 weeks
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Week 1
Design Before Code
Investigate, plan and storyboard Beacon
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Week 2
Algorithms in Pseudocode
Exact steps, variables and expressions
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Week 3
Making Decisions
Booleans, conditions and alert rules
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Week 4
Loops
Doing a job many times, and knowing when to stop
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Week 5
Lists
Keeping track of many values at once
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Week 6
Procedures and Abstraction
Splitting a big problem into pieces you can reuse
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Week 7
Search, Speed and Limits
Binary search, counting steps, heuristics and problems no algorithm can solve
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Week 8
Test, Debug, Document
Test plans, four kinds of errors, and guides that help others fix problems
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Week 9
Bits and Binary
Place values, one byte, overflow, and sampling a smooth curve
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Week 10
Data, Compression and Models
Shrinking photos, cleaning logs and simulating growth
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Week 11
Systems and the Internet
Packets, paths and a network that keeps working
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Week 12
Safe, Fair and Ready: Beacon Launch Review
Privacy, security, fairness and a launch day demo
More in Code Crew
Try Week 1 today.
Open the course, pick Day 1 and go. Make a free parent account when you want progress saved for each kid.