Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Computer Science



Fourth Graders Code to Educate About Natural Disasters


Fourth graders in Ms. Henriksen's  class recently combined creativity, science, and coding to tackle an important real-world issue: natural disasters. Using Scratch, students designed interactive dialogues between two characters, teaching viewers about different types of natural disasters, how to prepare for them, and how people are working to ensure safety during such events.

The project began with a brainstorming session where students identified key facts about disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. They discussed preparation strategies, such as emergency kits, evacuation plans, and how communities come together in times of need. Armed with this knowledge, students then moved into the coding phase.

In Scratch, they used block-based programming to bring their ideas to life. Students designed characters and wrote dialogue that explained their chosen disaster in an engaging way. They incorporated sound effects, animations, and clickable elements to make their projects interactive and informative.

Through this activity, students not only deepened their understanding of natural disasters but also developed essential computational thinking skills, including sequencing, debugging, and collaboration.


Technology Essential Questions
How can we use block-based programming to create solutions that communicate important ideas or solve problems?
What strategies can we use to test and debug a program to ensure it works as intended?
Why is collaboration important when creating and modifying programs, and how can it improve our final product?


Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) Standards for Grades 3–5 that are relevant to this lesson:
3-5.CT.b.3: Create and debug programs that involve a variety of control structures, including loops and conditionals.
3-5.CT.b.4: Collaboratively create and modify a program, documenting the design and testing process.
3-5.DTC.a.2: Construct and present digital artifacts to communicate ideas and information.

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