Blog

Diagramming Program Flow

September 17, 2021

My students had a terrific idea to make a chatbot program, but they couldn’t overcome a bug where their greeting phrase wouldn’t print first. It was their program, and I really didn’t want to debug their code for them, but I knew that if they could step back and see what they had told their program to do, as opposed to what they thought they were telling it to do, they’d be able to sort things out. What could they use to accomplish this?

family sits together on cough laughin

Playing at Coding

September 3, 2021

Worldwide Day of Play is coming up on September 21, 2021. This annual event was launched by Nickelodeon in 2007 to encourage children and parents to turn off their television and play together! The channel suspended programming for three hours and a special message appeared on the screen. Sometimes we forget how important play is for children, and for adults. Play is important for our well-being, for reducing stress, and for keeping our minds sharp.

children playing on tablet devices

CS for Children with Autism

April 14, 2021

If you are teaching computer science, you probably already know how understanding computing benefits all young people. But for the one in five children who have learning or attention issues like ADHD or autism, opportunities to learn CS may be limited. This is even more challenging in out-of-school learning where instructors may not have experience or training in addressing the special needs of their learners.

time lapse image of black sky with stars blurring in circular motions

Exploring Mars

March 24, 2021

Perseverance has landed!  You can use this exciting mission to inspire great learning activities in your afterschool program. We also want to highlight another great resource on Mars that comes from 4-H, the Mars Base Camp Challenge. The challenge includes four activities that explore engineering, computer science, and astronomy.  You can download the curriculum for free or order the kit which includes enough materials for 12 youth to participate in the STEM Challenge.   

students organize pieces of robot

Welcome to Click2ComputerScience!

November 16, 2020

Computer science is more than a discipline. It’s a passport for young people from all walks of life to achieve a high-paying career where they can contribute their creative gifts to the world. Click2ComputerScience is committed to equipping out-of-school time (OST) educators with what they need to facilitate engaging, hands-on computer science learning experiences.