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Coding + Biology: Lesson Plan
Coding + Biology: Lesson Plan
Coding + Biology: Lesson Plan
CODING + BIOLOGY
AGES:
K-5
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:
15-30 students per facilitator, no prior skill necessary.
1-LS3-1
2-LS4-1
3-LS1-1.
Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles
but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
4-LS1-1.
Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external
structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and
reproduction.
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
If students can get a working Animal Abitats, 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".
Note that the first app is a simplified version of the next app, Alotta Animal Abitats. When
your students have a working Alotta Animal Abitats, have them discuss with a partner:
What is the environment like in Africa?
Possible answers: desert, rainforest, savannah;
How is it different from where we live?
Possible answers: hotter and drier, less snow,
Why might these animals live in their particular places?
Possible answers: they depend on each other in a food web, they all need the
resources (food, water, shelter) their environment gives, their parents all lived
there
As you walk around the room, you can help students look at the code they wrote and answer:
Can you move them around by changing the numbers next to their names?
Hint: try going from s
tamp('elephant3',450,800,200) to
stamp('elephant3',750,100,200)
Use the questions above to segue into the influence of environment on an animals life. And if
there is time when students finish with Alotta Animal Abitats, have them move on to Flower
Grow
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 on the Flower Grow handout,
circulate around
the room ensuring students are typing into the correct window.
When your students have a working Flower Grow app ask questions or have them discuss with
a partner / neighbor:
What caused the flower to grow?
Possible answers: enough water, being in a good environment
What other things need water to grow?
Possible answers: we need it! Puppies and kittens, lizards, birds, almost every
living thing needs water
What else does a flower need to grow?
Possible answers: nutrients in the soil and in the air, being free of pests and
disease
What happens if a flower gets too much water?
Possible answer: its bad for it; the soil is too muddy for it to grow in
How does a plant change as it got bigger?
The stem gets thicker, it sprouts more leaves, it can grow buds and flowers
Animal Abitats
1. fill('africa')
2. stamp('elephant3',450,800,200)
3. stamp('zebra',550,450,200)
Flower Grow
App Number:
1741
1. fill('blurry grass')
2. size = 500
3. can = stamp('watering can',600,100)
4. tulip = stamp('tulip',375,999,size)
5. can.tap = grow
6.
7. function grow() {
8. size = size + 200
9. tulip.size(size,1000)
10.}