LESSON PLAN

CODING + GENERAL SCIENCE

AGES:
K-5
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:
15-30 students per facilitator, no prior skill necessary.

Next Generation Science Standards applied:

K-ESS3-1.

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different

plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.

1-ESS1-1.

Use observations of the sun, moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be
predicted.

3-LS2-1.

Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members
survive.

Materials, Resources and Preparation

Review the
Hour of Code Educator Guide
and
Best Practices from Successful Educators
to plan your Hour of Code event.
Register your Hour of Code
event to receive a thank you gift and f
un posters
.
If youre running an online tutorial, be sure to test it first before asking your students to
complete it. Check your technology and decide if you need to troubleshoot anything in
advance.
Print certificates
to hand out at the end.

Getting Started (2-5 mins)

FIRST: Introduce the activity (2-5 minutes)
Kick off your Hour of Code by inspiring students and discussing how computer science
impacts every part of our lives and is revolutionizing the study of biology.
Show

The Hour of Code is Here

.
Its okay if both you and your students are brand new to computer science. Here are some
ideas to introduce your Hour of Code activity to connect with the subject matter:

 Explain ways technology plus science impacts our lives, with examples both boys
and girls will care about, for example:
Radio-tracking animals like whales, sharks, and birds so we can learn about
them and better protect them
Composing music from the signals in space
See tips for getting girls interested in computer science
here
.

NEXT: Direct students to the activity (1 minute)

Write the tutorial link on a whiteboard: b
itsbox.com/hoc
Tell students to visit the URL and start the activity by:
Click the Build Apps Now link in the center of the screen. This will launch a short
guided tutorial that will show the students the basics of using Bitsbox.
Once you've completed the tutorial, click the star-shaped New App
button. Enter the first app number from the work sheet nd click "Go".
Tip:
For younger students, load the Build Apps Now page ahead of time or save
it as a bookmark.
Pass out Bitsbox app handouts (last page of this guide) and direct students to start with the
first app.

Activity (20-40 mins)

NEXT: Ask students to complete the tutorial, alone or in groups
Direct students to type in exactly what they see on the handouts, starting with the Peaceful
Forest app.
This will create an app they can then experiment with. Circulate around the room
ensuring students are typing into the Bitsbox code window.
When students have a working Peaceful Forest app, show them how to start a new app by:
1. Pressing the Home Icon at the bottom of the virtual tablet
2. (optional) Have them set up an account if they want to save their progress and show
their parents their work later! An email address is required to do this.
3. Press the star-shaped New App button, enter the app number (XXXX) and click "Go".
Have them write out the 2nd app (Noisy Forest) Note that the first app (Peaceful Forest) is a
simplified version of this app.
When your students have a working Noisy Forest app ask questions or have them discuss with
a partner / neighbor:
What animals are in the forest?

 Answer:
'bird','bear','crow','duck','gnome','spider'
Do any of the animals eat any of the others?
Possible answers: birds eat the spiders; the bear eats the birds; the gnome
might eat everything! The gnome might also be vegetarian.
Why do you think these animals live together?
Possible answer: they depend on each other in a food web, they all need the
resources (food, water, shelter) the forests gives, their parents all lived here
Other than noise, how else might you find out what lives in a forest?
Possible answers: seeing the animals (can talk about automated camera traps
that snap a photo when it senses motion), animal tracks, animal scats (poop),
animal marks (e.g. bears sharpen their claws on trees, birds make nests and lay
eggs, spiders make webs, gnomes take pictures of themselves in foreign
countries...)
As you walk around the room, you can help students look at the code that they wrote and
answer the following questions:
How could you take out an animal sound in your forest?
Delete any one of '
bird','bear','crow','duck','gnome', or'spider' in Line 2
How could you add a new animal in your forest?
[Hint: try adding roar, bark, bear2, cat, cicada, goat, hog, howl, purr,
rooster, sheep2, treefrog to Line 2]
What noise goes with each animal? How could you change the code to know for sure
what noise the gnome makes?
Delete all the other animals except for gnome in line 2
What about the code makes the animal noises go in a different order each time?
The random function on line
Show them how to start a new app by:
1. Pressing the Home Icon at the bottom of the virtual tablet
2. (optional) Have them set up an account if they want to save their progress and show
their parents their work later! An email address is required to do this.
3. Press the star-shaped New App button, enter the app number (XXXX) and click "Go".
Direct students to type in exactly what they see in the 3rd app's code (Constellations),
circulate around the room ensuring students are typing into the correct window
Have them discuss the following with their partner:
How come we can only see stars at night?
Possible answer: the sun is too bright during the day
What are some constellations that you know?
Possible answers: the big and little dippers, zodiac constellations, Orion, etc
(advanced) Why can we see different stars at different times of the year?
Possible answer: as the earth orbits the sun, different parts of the sky are visible
at night
As you walk around the room, you can help students look at the code that they wrote and
answer the following questions:
How could you change the code to make the stars seem further away? Closer?

 On Line 9, make the numbers smaller to make the stars seem further away;
bigger to seem closer

When your students come across difficulties

Make sure to check for common errors. Remember, every character matters.
Incorrect capitalization
Missing syntax like { or (
Missing or mismatched quotation marks. (e.g. stamp(cow') or stamp('cow"))
Misspellings
Its okay to respond:
I dont know. Lets figure this out together.
Let's try something and see what happens."
Learning to program is like learning a new language; you wont be fluent right
away.
What to do if a student finishes early?
Have them continue to the last app.
Students can see all tutorials and try another Hour of Code activity at
code.org/learn
Or, ask students who finish early to help classmates who are having trouble with the
activity.

Wrap-Up (5-10 mins)

FOUR: Debrief & Close
Debrief the activity, connect the role of technology and coding to helping scientists
understand why things in the present work the way they do, figure out what happened in the
past, and predict what might happen in the future.
Celebrate and
pass out certificates
and stickers.
Let participants know they can continue to learn at
code.org/learn/beyond
.
Share photos and videos of your Hour of Code event on social media. Use #HourOfCode and
@codeorg so we can highlight your success, too!

Beyond one hour

If your kids enjoyed Bitsbox, they can find more materials at b
itsbox.com/hoc.
There are many ways to go Beyond an Hour of Code:
Explore other curricula
from our partners
.

 Teach the
Code Studio Computer Science Fundamentals
courses. Code.org offers f
ree
professional development
for these courses, o
nline
or
in-person
.
Invite a computer science expert to your class.
Sign up for a virtual classroom.

Bitsbox App Handout

Peaceful Forest
1. fill('eerie forest')
2. noises = ['bird','bear','crow','duck','gnome','spider']
3. noise = random(noises)
4. sound(noise)

Noisy Forest
App Number:
8411
1. fill('eerie forest')
2. noises = ['bird','bear','crow','duck','gnome','spider']
3.
4. function loop() {
5. number = random(10)
6. if (number == 1) {
7.
noise = random(noises)
8.
sound(noise)
9. }
10.}

Constellations
App Number:
8705
1. fill('black')
2.
3. function draw() {
4. line(x,y,5)
5. line('white')
6. }
7.
8. function create() {
9. size = random(5,50)
10. star = stamp('star2',size).move()
11. star.tap = draw
12.}
13.
14.repeat(create,40)

Lightning Bolt
App Number:
8672
1. fill('storm clouds')
2. bolt = stamp('lightning',1)
3.
4. function touching() {
5. bolt.rotate(random(360))
6. bolt.size(random(999,1999))
7. bolt.move(x,y)
8. }
9.
10.function untouch() {
11. bolt.size(1,100)
12.}