One of the most magnificent structures in the computer science world is the function. Functions (sometimes called procedures) are mini programs that you can use over and over inside of your bigger program. This lesson will help students intuitively understand why combining chunks of code into functions can be such a helpful practice.

Students will begin to understand how functions can be helpful in this fun and interactive Minecraft adventure!

Students have practiced creating impressive designs in Artist and navigating mazes in Bee, but today they will use functions to harvest crops in Harvester. This lesson will push students to use functions in the new ways by combining them with `while` loops and `if / else` statements.

Students will be introduced to using functions with the Artist. Magnificent images will be created and modified. For more complicated patterns, students will learn about nesting functions by calling one function from inside another.

The next four lessons provide an opportunity for students to put their coding skills to use in a capstone project. This project will help individuals gain experience with coding and produce an exemplar to share with peers and loved ones. Intended to be a multi-lesson or multi-week experience, students will spend time exploring brainstorming, learning about the design process, building, and presenting their final work.

In the explore stage, students will play with pre-built examples of projects in both Artist and Sprite Lab for inspiration. Next, students will learn about the design process and how to implement it in their own projects. They will then be given the space to create their own project in Artist, Sprite Lab, or another interface that they have become familiar with (this is likely the longest stage of the project). Finally, students will be able to present their finished work to their peers.

In this lesson, students will play a game intended to get them thinking about the way commands need to be given to produce the right result. This will help them more easily carry over to Sprite Lab in the upcoming lessons.

By running a simple simulation in Sprite Lab, students will experience how computing can be used to collect data that identify trends or patterns. After running the simulation multiple times, students will have an opportunity to make a prediction about how changing a variable in the simulation might impact the outcome, and then test that hypothesis.

We know that loops allow us to do things over and over again, but now we’re going to learn how to use loops that have extra structures built right in. These new structures will allow students to create code that is more powerful and dynamic.

Featuring Bee, this lesson focuses on `for` loops and using an incrementing variable to solve more complicated puzzles. Students will begin by reviewing loops from previous lessons, then they'll walk through an introduction to `for` loops so they can more effectively solve complicated problems.

In this lesson, students continue to practice `for` loops, but this time with Artist. Students will complete puzzles combining the ideas of variables, loops, and `for` loops to create complex designs. At the end, they will have a chance to create their own art in a freeplay level.

In this lesson, students will create an interactive Virtual Pet that looks and behaves how they wish. Students will use Sprite Lab's "Costumes" tool to customize their pet's appearance. They will then use events, behaviors, and other concepts they have learned to give their pet a life of its own!

Loaned to Computer Science Fundamentals by the team over at Copyright and Creativity, this lesson exists to help students understand the challenges and benefits of respecting ownership and copyright, particularly in digital environments. Students should be encouraged to respect artists’ rights as an important part of being an ethical digital citizen.

Students will begin to understand how functions can be helpful in this fun and interactive Minecraft adventure!

The next five lessons provide an opportunity for students to put their coding skills to use in a capstone project. This project will help individuals gain experience with coding and produce an exemplar to share with peers and loved ones. This is intended to be a multi-lesson or multi-week project where students spend time brainstorming, learning about the design process, building, and then presenting their final work.

In the "Explore" stage, students will play around with pre-built Artist and Sprite Lab programs for inspiration. Next, students will learn about the design process and how to implement it in their own projects. They will then be given the space to create their own project in Artist, Sprite Lab, or any other interface that you are comfortable providing. (This is likely the longest stage of the project.) Students will then revise their code after testing and peer review. Finally, students will be able to present their finished work to their classmates.

In this lesson, students will learn about the two concepts at the heart of Sprite Lab: sprites and behaviors. Sprites are characters or objects on the screen that students can move, change, and manipulate. Behaviors are actions that sprites will take continuously until they are stopped.

This lesson features Sprite Lab, a platform where students can create their own interactive animations and games. In addition to behaviors, today students will incorporate user input as events to create an "alien dance party".

Watch student faces light up as they make their own gorgeous designs using a small number of blocks and digital stickers! This lesson builds on the understanding of loops from previous lessons and gives students a chance to be truly creative. This activity is fantastic for producing artifacts for portfolios or parent/teacher conferences.

In this online activity, students will have the opportunity to push their understanding of loops to a whole new level. Playing with the Bee and Plants vs Zombies, students will learn how to program a loop to be inside of another loop. They will also be encouraged to figure out how little changes in either loop will affect their program when they click `Run`.

Variables are used as placeholders for values such as numbers or words. Variables allow for a lot of freedom in programming. Instead of having to type out a phrase many times or remember an obscure number, computer scientists can use variables to reference them. This lesson helps to explain what variables are and how we can use them in many different ways. The idea of variables isn't an easy concept to grasp, so we recommend allowing plenty of time for discussion at the end of the lesson.