Organizing Your Computer Science Activities

Staff Development Guide

Training Situation: Meeting (small group)

Length: 30 minutes

Objective: Participants will discuss challenges and develop strategies for organizing materials and managing computer science activities.

Agenda:

• Introduction and welcome – 2 minutes
• See the skill in action – 10 minutes
• Strategies for managing computer science activities – 10 minutes
• Sharing personal strategies – 8 minutes

Video-Based Learning Module

Watch the activity overview video. This video shows staff facilitating the activity featured in the skill video.

As you watch the skill video below, think about these questions:

• When preparing computer science learning opportunities what does Dagen think about or plan ahead of time?
• How does Dagen adapt the activity to support youth in seeing themselves as computational thinkers?
• What positive and negative emotions do you see in the video? Are they learning to manage emotions in this activity?

Now that you’ve watched the video, reflect on what you saw.

• How would you help youth develop a STEM identity?
• What are three ideas you have for ensuring that a computer science activity runs smoothly?
• Do you think Dagen was successful in having the youth see themselves as computational thinkers? Why or why not?