Teacher's Guide
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Teacher’s Guide Intro to Coding
Intro to Coding – Teachers’ Guide
overview
BACKGROUND
What This Class Aims to Be
Who This Class Is For
Programming and the Real World
How This Course was Made
What You Can Do with This Course
TEACHING
Teaching Requirements
Preparing to Teach This Class
Class Length
Classroom Requirements
LEARNING
Material
Resources
Testing
Grading
Teacher’s Guide Intro to Coding
BACKGROUND
What This Class Aims to Be
This course was made to make it easier for educators and students to experience the
computer science and information technology fields. With new education and
technology concepts in mind, the Intro to Coding course was curated with the goal of
introducing more schools into programming classes through a modern, free, and simple
path.
Who This Class Is For
This course is for young learners with an interest in computers and coding. This course
can be used in middle schools and high schools recommended for students age 12 to
18. Although this course was made for kids with differing levels of understanding, we
recommend that students are not required to take this course.
Programming in the Real World
This class hopes to give a look into what programmers in the real world do every day.
Education and programming are two objects that don't always go well together. Today,
technology changes at an unprecedented rate, and education can't always keep up to
teach what's new. As a result, many approaches to teaching programming cover the
fundamentals and principles that are unchanging. This is a route that Collegeboard's
Advanced Placement Computer Science courses take. However, taking this approach
discourages numerous students who have a natural interest in these topics but find
learning about them uninteresting and tiresome. This course intends to balance a level
of new technology with basic concepts that keeps learning about programming
interesting and useful at the same time.
How This Course Was Made
This course was made in collaboration with new teaching and new programming ideas.
A main goal of this course is to utilize present-day learning methods to teach present-
day material. We wanted to update obsolete programming classes with new and
effective learning, in the easy to adopt form. We chose to teach this course in Python, a
simple-to-learn modern high-level language.
What You Can Do with This Course
This course is completely free and open source. You are free to modify any and all parts
in order to better suit your classroom and redistribute your additions for other educators
to use. We ask that you do not sell any of these course materials and further the
Teacher’s Guide Intro to Coding
community with your contributions. Any changes you would like to see made to the
source material can be submitted for review on our GitHub page, as an issue.
TEACHING
Teaching Requirements
In order to properly meet student's needs and allow for a successful learning
environment, the teacher of the Intro to Coding course must be able to []. This course is
introductory and aims to bring teachers and students alike into the Computer Science
field, with little extraneous effort.
After preparing to teach this course,
You will need:
• programming knowledge
• fluency with the Python language
• complete understanding of all covered topics
• individual time with each student
It's beneficial to have:
• experience with other programming languages
• "real world" programming experience
• computer/technology background
You do not need:
• a degree in computer science or related field
• many years of experience
Preparing to Teach This Class
Preparing to teach this class will take varying levels of effort depending on one’s prior
experience. The following is a guide on what to do to prepare to teach this course.
Programming Experience
Preparation
Timeframe
Expert
Review course videos, labs,
and projects.
2 weeks
Intermediate
Review course videos, labs,
and projects, complete some
Beginning
Teacher’s Guide Intro to Coding
None
Work through course
material, complete all labs,
projects, and quizzes
Class Length
This course is not a full year curriculum. This class can be taught as one semester or
one trimester. For students who would like to continue learning programming, we
recommend the Intro to Coding course be taught alongside the Intro to Programming
course. Intro to Programming teaches more advanced programming concepts built off of
the basic tools learned in Intro to Coding. The two courses together can be used for a
full year or two trimester schedule.
Classroom Requirements
To take full advantage of this course’s learning system, your classroom will require the
following:
• personal computers
o access to file system with basic management rights
o VS Code, Processing, Python, and other used programs installed
o Compatible with Windows, Mac OS, or Linux
• a reliable internet connection
• personal headphones or speakers (not recommended)
LEARNING
Material
The primary learning material for students is a set of videos explaining each topic in
detail with general examples. We believe these videos enough for the average student
to build a strong understanding of assigned and tested topics. However, deeper
understanding of each topic is only attained through self-experimentation, experience,
and questions. No extra costly materials are required to teach Intro to Coding. All videos
are available for download and publicly accessible on YouTube. Optionally, there are
text transcripts for each video inside of the 'resources' folder inside the course
materials.
Resources
Many other resources for students can be found on the web. Useful links and books are
listed in the course materials, but not required.
Teacher’s Guide Intro to Coding
Difficulty
This course aims to provide a healthy and reasonable challenge to students, while
providing space for other classes. Intro to Coding is best suited as an elective pace
course.
Pacing
This course is a flexible self-paced course where students are able to take time on
topics they struggle with, and quickly move through ones that come easily. We
encourage a soft deadline for all labs, projects, and quizzes, as an indicator of where
students should fall. Penalization for late work is recommended for students who fall
behind more than two weeks. A recommended schedule for semester and trimester
schools follows:
Semester Schedule
Trimester Schedule
Week 1 – 1.1, 1.2
Week 2 – 1.3, 2.1
Week 3 – 2.2, 2.3
Testing
In any programming class, understanding and skill may not always translate onto paper.
Deeper understanding of programming is most apparent through project work, so we
encourage classrooms to the use unit projects as a means of assessment grades. Unit
tests are not provided. Lesson quizzes are provided and optional to classrooms.
Answer Keys
The answer keys for labs, projects, and quizzes cannot be found online. To restrain
students from cheating, we ask that you send an email to [] with your name and school
name for the answer keys, and we ask that you keep from uploading them yourself.
Grading
Teacher’s Guide Intro to Coding
This class adopts standards-based grading on a four-point scale. Each assignment
uses standards to grade the students' understanding of the material. The standards are
graded as following. Grading scales may be adjusted for each school.
4 – exemplary A - 100-90%
3 – accomplished B - 89-80%
2 – developing C - 79-70%
1 – beginning D - 69-60%
0 – bad E - 59-0%
FURTHER QUESTIONS
If you have any questions about the Intro to Coding course, questions about teaching
this class, or any other feedback, please let us know! Email us at [] and we’ll try our best
to address your questions.
