Outcomes of domain B. Computer thinking and programming in the third grade students in the teaching of the elective subject of informatics fit into The 2021 STEM Discovery Campaign is a joint international initiative organized by Scientix that invites projects, organizations, libraries, schools, universities and youth clubs across Europe and around the world, to celebrate careers and studies in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
At the beginning of the class, the implementation of activities was agreed with the students, the students were divided into pairs and each pair participated in all the prepared activities (students were divided into pairs with the digital tool Machine name picker). During the work, they used the digital tool Classroom timer to determine the duration of each activity (eg ten minutes per activity, then switching pairs to the next activity).
They conducted the following digital and unplugged activities related to the upcoming Easter holiday:
Activity 1: coding bunny – students choose one of three programming games by arranging blocks of commands and thus help the rabbit to reach the carrot Google Rabbit, Rabbit Run or Carrot Chase, third graders now skillfully use applications with command blocks and distinguish sequence, repetition and branching
Activity 2: draw a bunny – In this unplugged activity, students draw a bunny by throwing a dice to determine which part of the suggested activity they will draw. In this activity, they used decision or branching in an interesting way (since they didn’t have dice, they used digital dice)
Activity 3: making graphic representations – students make a graph by counting the characters related to Easter like real little scientists (by counting different characters (bunnies, carrots, chickens) they fill the number of squares with colors and thus make a graph). They also counted the number of chocolate eggs by color and made a graphic presentation, and at the end of the class they sweetened themselves with chocolate eggs.
Activity 4: discover the code – in this activity students have to find eggs in a grid on paper (each of which contains one letter) and as a solution they were given the question “Where is the bunny?”. At the end of the class, the students looked for a chocolate bunny (he hid very well, but they still found him)
Activity 5: Easter pixel art – in this activity, the students “assembled” a picture of a rabbit or a chicken by coloring certain squares on paper with a certain color (instructions with column and row markings of that color). In this activity students have a drawing on paper that (each student one line) will make with sticks.
Activity 6: egg experiments – students in this activity make two experiments with water, salt and egg. They investigate why an egg floats in one glass of water and falls to the bottom of the glass in another. They are also investigating which of the two eggs is boiled and which is raw.
Activity 7: Easter sudoku – students solve a simple and complex sudoku task
The activities lasted for two hours, the last day of classes (live) before the Easter holidays, the students enjoyed all the activities.
Primary School Hugo Badalić, Slavonski Brod, Croatia