New Version of the CS4H Manual

For the past year, a group of faculty, students, and staff at UIUC have been working on an Introduction to Computer Science using Scratch.  We call the project, CS4H. We have piloted it with 4-H club facilitators, students, and teachers.Responses so far have been positive, and we believe that young people and adults can just pick it up and start working with Scratch. The content is organized around key computer science concepts of Sequence, Iteration, Conditionals, Variables, and Modularization. Use the link below to download the pdf.

CS4H youth guide Aug7 (pdf)

In addition, Travis Faust has written up a colorful guide to the Scratch blocks.

ScratchDocBooklet (pdf)

New users of Scratch should find this guide a handy index.

Introduction to CS with Scratch

The CS4H Team has completed a draft of the Youth Guide, CS4H: Introduction to CS with Scratch. The document contains activities to guide readers through an overview of basic computer science content: Sequence, Iteration, Conditionals, Variables, and Modularization. Developed by Lenny Pitt, Judy Rocke, and Jana Sebestik, the 49-page manual is being piloted by adults and youth around Illinois. It was created with grant support from the University of Illinois Extension

CS4H. An example page

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Collaborative Discussion Framework

The Collaborative Discussion Framework is used at Kenwood Elementary School and was written by Minsoo Park and Todd Lash as part of their work in Computational Thinking in K-5.

  • What are you trying to do?
    (Do they have or understand the purpose?)
  • What have you tried already? 
    (Restate in steps what they have already done.)
  • What else do you think you can try?
    (Brainstorm, encourage students to take a chance.)
  • What would happen if….?
    (Come up with some possible solutions and hypothesize the outcomes.  Test each hypothesis.)
  • Celebrate & Share!
    (Take charge of celebrating one’s excitement)

    • Self recognition / realization (solution / different idea)
    • Recognition for other’s help? idea? solution? – Take 3