An Official A+ College Ready Course

CS Discoveries

A Middle School Introduction to Computer Science

A full introduction to computer science for 6th-8th grade Alabama students, built around computational thinking. Students solve problems, build and style real web pages in HTML and CSS, program interactive animations and games in Game Lab, work with data, code physical devices with micro:bits, and finish by training and shipping their own AI app. This course covers all of the Alabama DLCS 6th-8th grade standards.

Free for Alabama teachers

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Course Details

Designed to integrate seamlessly into your existing computer science curriculum.

Course Information

DurationFull Year — 6 units, 166 lessons

Grade Levels6-8

Programming LanguagesHTML & CSS, Game Lab, MakeCode & App Lab

PrerequisitesNone

Standards Alignment

Every unit maps to the computer science frameworks your district already reports on.

Alabama DLCS 6-8All 6th-8th grade Digital Literacy and Computer Science standards

A+ College ReadyAn official A+CR course for Alabama schools

Partnership Benefits

Everything you need to deliver an exceptional computer science education experience.

Web-based IDE

No downloads, no hassles, immediately start coding with our comprehensive development environment.

INTEGRATED FEATURES

Automated Grading

Give you back hours of time with intelligent code assessment and instant feedback.

Code Comments

View and provide detailed comments and feedback on your student's code.

Plagiarism Detection

Find plagiarized responses and maintain academic integrity automatically.

Customize Your Curriculum

Edit and bring your own taste to your curriculum by changing or making new additions.

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JuiceMind Quizzes

Student Engagement

Kahoot-like platform that features Multiple Choice, Select the error, drag and drop, and Fill in the Code questions.

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Group Projects

Collaborative Learning

Students can collaborate on shared workspaces to complete various coding activities.

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Parsons' Problems

Scaffolded Coding

Give students confidence by dragging and dropping shuffled code blocks into the correct order to assemble a working solution.

Unplugged Activities

Hands-On Learning

Step away from the screen and spark a hands-on, collaborative activity that draws every student into the conversation.

Course Breakdown

Six units and 166 lessons, 1,744 items in all. Every unit includes a project students can show someone, and a separate 105-item Documentation module gives students a Game Lab and App Lab API reference for the programming units.

Unit 1 — Problem Solving

30 lessons · 107 items

Opens the course with the practical skills students need to work on a computer at all, then teaches the problem-solving process that recurs through every unit that follows except the last.

Safety, troubleshooting, and keyboarding skills

Digital culture, emerging technologies, and accessibility

The problem-solving process, and proposing an app

What is a computer? Input, processing, storage, and output

Algorithms, sequence / selection / iteration, flowcharts and pseudocode

Unit 2 — The Internet and Web Development

30 lessons · 454 items

Students write real HTML and CSS, lay pages out with Flexbox, and build a multi-page site for a purpose they choose.

HTML: headings, lists, images, and linking pages

CSS: styling text and elements, classes, and pseudo-classes

Organising content with Flexbox and Flexbox children

Digital footprint, intellectual property, sources and research

Website for a Purpose project, peer review, and how the internet works

Unit 3 — Interactive Animations and Games

32 lessons · 598 items

The biggest unit by item count. Students move from drawing shapes to designing a complete game, picking up variables, conditionals, functions and the game design process on the way.

Plotting shapes and drawing in Game Lab

Variables, random numbers, sprites, sprite properties, and text

The draw loop, sprite movement, and animation

Conditionals, keyboard and mouse input, velocity, and collisions

Functions, the game design process, and a Design a Game project

Unit 4 — Data

16 lessons · 167 items

How computers represent everything as bits, and how people use data to make — and automate — decisions.

Representation matters: patterns, ASCII, and binary

Representing images and numbers, and combining representations

Keeping data secret

Structuring, interpreting, and making decisions with data

Big data, machine learning, and a Make a Recommendation project

Unit 5 — Physical Computing with Micro:bits

33 lessons · 123 items

Code leaves the screen. Students program a real micro:bit in MakeCode, build games on it, and use it to collect data from the world around them.

Smart devices, and the micro:bit in MakeCode

Events and event handlers

Variables, a game scorekeeper, and input projects

Rock Paper Scissors, iteration and loops, animations and patterns

Arrays, micro:bit projects, and data collection with a micro:bit

Unit 6 — AI and Machine Learning

25 lessons · 295 items

Students train their own models in AI Lab, learn what a model card is and why it matters, and finish by designing an AI app around a problem they picked.

Intro to App Lab, and an introduction to machine learning

Types of machine learning, and innovations in AI

Patterns in data, classification models, and numerical models in AI Lab

Model cards, troubleshooting models, and an AI code of ethics

Issue statements, survey data, and a Design an AI App project

Ready to Spark CS Discovery in Your Alabama School?

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