Syllabus for NextGen Solutions

NextGen Solutions 6 - 

Explore the science and art of computer programming using the BBC MicroBit, a credit-card sized computer with built-in sensors and wireless communication, and the MakeCode visual programming environment from Microsoft. Students will learn about concepts such as loops, variables, sensors, actuators, conditionals, and Bluetooth radio through a series of fun individual and group projects, such as an electric guitar, a simulation of fireflies, games like Rock Paper Scissors and more. For the final Action Learning Lab intensive, students working in small teams create an original project within the boundaries of the constraints. While projects will be determined by students, project work will happen within a structured process that includes using Design Thinking to identify project requirements, development of collaboration skills, daily check-ins and online journaling with peer/instructor/mentor feedback, and a final public exhibition which occurs both in-person and online, becoming part of each student's digital portfolio.

We will also incorporate typing and Tech apps to our curriculum.  These skills are needed for jobs today as well as the future!

NextGen Solutions 7 -

The overall objective of this is to introduce students to the field of Robotics and stimulate their interest in science and engineering.  Robotics is a lab-based course that uses a hands-on approach to introduce the basic concepts of robotics, focusing on the construction and programming of autonomous mobile robots. Course information will be tied to lab experiments; students will work in groups to build and test increasingly more complex mobile robots, culminating in an end-of-semester robot demonstration.

Using VEXcode VR and other engaging robotics-based activities, students will learn about project flow, loops, conditionals, algorithms. Students use VEXcode VR and Sphero to learn and practice computational thinking and coding. Each lesson within a single unit provides a scaffolded approach to the CS concept, leading students to complete independent challenges to apply what they have learned. Using the block-based coding system, students are able to get started instantly with their coding journey. Students in teams will then apply what they have learned by building and deploying their own robots.

We will also incorporate typing and Tech apps to our curriculum.  These skills are needed for jobs today and as well as the future!

NextGen Solutions 8 -

MIT App Inventor is an intuitive, visual programming environment that allows everyone  to build fully functional apps for smartphones and tablets.

Blocks-based coding programs inspire intellectual and creative empowerment. MIT App Inventor goes beyond this to provide real empowerment for kids to make a difference.

MIT App Inventor is an online platform designed to teach computational thinking concepts through the development of mobile applications. Students create applications by dragging and dropping components into a design view and using a visual blocks language to program application behavior MIT App Inventor.

Students learning the App Inventor course is beneficial because it develops their computational thinking skills by understanding the variables, events, methods, and properties.

The facility of running apps on mobile devices allows the students to experience their own apps as part of an ecosystem they interact with daily.

It helps them become producers and change-makers rather than simply consumers.

We will also incorporate typing and Tech apps into our curriculum.  These skills are needed for jobs today as well as the  future!