In this 45-minute broadcast students will use STEM skills of observation, comparing & contrasting and sorting & classifying to further develop their computational thinking skills of pattern recognition, decomposition, abstraction and logic. They will also explore how computers use sorting networks to process information.



Activity 1

In this portion of the broadcast students will:

- read a portion of the Let's Talk Science book, written in partnership with Dr. Jeremy McNeil, titled "What is an Insect?"

- explore the skill of observation, comparing & contrasting, sorting & classifying as they work in different ways with insect picture card sets

- participate in a gallery walk to try and guess other students' sorting rules for the insect picture sets

- explore how Venn Diagrams can be used to identify the similarities and differences between insects

- use logic to explain whether or not new pictures presented to them fit into their sorting rules or not and why

- debrief how the STEM skills of observation, comparing & contrasting, sorting & classifying strengthen their Computational Thinking Skills of decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition and logic



Activity 2

In this portion of the broadcast students will:

- explore the concept of how computer scientists use parallel sorting networks to complete a process more efficiently by participating in a group number sorting activity.



See the interactive teacher guide for materials and other materials required to participate in these activities. There are also follow-up activities to do independently on your own after viewing the broadcast.  Link to teacher guide: http://bit.ly/4-6livecodeJune2019