Free Resources for CSEdWeek

A second website to explore is Hour of Code. According to the website, “The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify ‘code,’ to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts.”

The site contains resources and activities to help you introduce and engage your students in computer science. If you’re not sure where to begin, there is a how-to guide that outlines how you might get started.

The heart of the website is the large library of free activities that are searchable and filterable. You can select a grade band or experience level; identify the type of classroom technology that you have; and pick topics to explore, the activity type and length, and accessibility and computer language preferences.

The site is very convenient, can save you lots of time, and is intended to help you bring computer science to your students. While these activities are perfect for CSEdWeek, they can also be used anytime during the year.

A third relevant site is Code.org, the organizer of Hour of Code, and their website states that they are “an education innovation nonprofit dedicated to the vision that every student in every school has the opportunity to learn computer science and artificial intelligence as part of their core K–12 education.” They strive to inspire students, reach classrooms, prepare new CS teachers, and improve diversity in CS—all in the interest of advancing computer science education.

To access all of the content, you’ll need to set up a free teacher account. This will allow you to create classroom sections for your students, assign and track student work, enroll in professional learning, and interact with other educators on the teacher forum.

Similarly, by setting up free student accounts, your students can explore all Code.org courses and activities, join their teacher’s classroom section, access the work that you assign, and save their progress and projects.

You will find lots of great resources at Code.org. As a teacher, you can access their highly rated professional learning, explore the curriculum catalog, and start projects in a variety of areas. One such area, the App Lab, contains an interactive lab where students can create an app with block-based coding. They can drag elements into the workspace and run their creations to check their progress.

Scratch, created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is the world’s largest free coding community for kids. Using this site, students can create stories, games, and animations, and then share those creations with the world.

By clicking on the Create menu at the top, you are immediately taken to the Scratch coding lab. It features a simplified block coding environment, with drag-and-drop functionality. It also has tutorials embedded right on the page, so students can learn and immediately apply that learning in the same environment.

You can also click on the Explore menu to see projects from other Scratch users or select the Ideas menu to help you get started. There are great tutorials, as well as activity guides, to help guide you and your students through a coding activity. A few examples of coding activities include projects to animate your name, make a chase game, make music, and create a story. When you click an activity option, you can download the guide or try a tutorial.

If you’re working with younger students, you may want to check out ScratchJr, which is available as a free app and helps inspire coding for young children aged 5–7. Like Scratch, it offers activities, tutorials, and helpful resources for you to use.