These resources were created and vetted by the Blueprint Fellows and the CS Education Team. For additional resources created by teachers in the CS Leads program, visit the School Leaders Website.
Computer Science Education Week
Want to bring CS to your school but don’t know where to start? CSEdWeek is a great opportunity for students and educators to get excited about computer science in a low leverage, risk-free environment. Check out this video resource to learn more.
Categories: School Culture, VideoIntegrating CS Into Other Subjects
CS doesn’t have to be taught in isolation! Use movement for brain breaks. CS can be used to demonstrate understanding of other content knowledge (for ex. Oregon Trail Project)
Categories: VideoIntegrating Digital Assessment To Improve Instruction
Ever wondered how to use your iPad as an all-in-one assessment tool or how your students could self-assess and receive immediate feedback from you?
Categories: Assessment, VideoGiving Students A Way To Think Computationally
Are your students having trouble solving complex problems? Computational thinking can teach us that complicated operations can be broken into smaller steps. Computers “think” using logic, and we can do that too. Logical thinking spans across disciplines.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, VideoHow Might I Manage Students’ Programming Work?
Development Environments allow students and you to program, compile, debug, and run, all within the same program. How do we know which to choose? How can we manage our digital classroom with similar workflows as our physical one?
Categories: Classroom Management, PlanningWhat Is Creative Computing?
K-12 CS education in New York City emphasizes creative computing as a way to make computer science relevant to a broader audience of students.
Categories: UncategorizedCulturally Responsive CS: Drumming and Debugging
Learning syntax and programming languages can be fun and relevant to students’ interests. In this video resource, we visit a classroom where drumming is used to learn the patterns in code.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, School Culture, VideoCS Centers: Sparking Student Interest Through Choice
In this video resource, we see how setting up CS centers in your classroom can give students choice and time to collaborate and puzzle through problems together. Centers also help maximize usage of resources.
Categories: Classroom Management, Device Management, Instructional Strategies, VideoHow Might I Prepare to Teach a CS Unit?
Preparing to teach a CS lesson or unit is somewhat different from preparing to teach other subjects. This resource discusses prototyping example projects for your classroom.
Categories: PlanningHow Do We Create Teams and Buy-in to Support CS Roll Out?
CS Education can only become prevalent, supported, and effective if schools and communities are interested in the impact of teaching meaningful computing skills. You can be an ambassador for the value of CS education in your school and community.
Categories: School CultureIntegrating Art And Computer Science
Touching code — making the abstract qualities of coding tangible. We will explore patterns from several different cultures, and translate them into code. Students will then create a variety of styles of embroidery based on these patterns.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, VideoManaging Students At Different Levels
What do you do when all of your students are working on different projects? Teach your students the skills of collaboration and cooperation that will support them throughout their life.
Categories: Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, VideoEmphasizing Process Over Product
Want to help students to think consciously about designing an algorithm, or teach students to debug their own work?
Categories: Assessment, Instructional Strategies, VideoUnderstanding Blueprint Student Outcomes
Blueprint student outcomes guide curriculum and assessment design. A deep understanding of these outcomes can help CS educators better implement curriculum and assessment in their classrooms.
Categories: AssessmentIndividualized Assessment: Tracking Student Success With Objective Metrics
With Abe Cohen’s approach to asynchronous instruction, his students move through lessons at their own pace, tracking their progress with their school’s online tracker software.
Categories: Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, School Culture, VideoHow Might I Structure Daily CS Instruction?
A resource on using the workshop model to structure your everyday CS lessons. Includes a description of the model and examples.
Categories: Instructional StrategiesHow Might I Manage Student Accounts?
Web-based environments are useful tools for collaboration, documentation, and sharing. This resource details some strategies for managing student accounts online. Also included: lists of tools and analog alternatives.
Categories: Classroom Management, PlanningPeer Review: Students Learning From One Another
Collaboration and peer review is an essential skill in the modern programming community. This video resources showcases meaningful peer assessment in the CS classroom.
Categories: Assessment, VideoHow Might I Prepare Students to Use Devices?
Devices can be useful in the classroom, but they can also be divisive (device-ive) — students may or may not have varying levels of tech literacy and familiarity. This resource discusses diagnosing and increasing tech proficiency.
Categories: Device Management, PlanningHow Might I Structure My CS Lesson as Project-Based Learning?
Project-based learning is a powerful tool for understanding and applying concepts. CS can be used in PBL classrooms with practices outlined in this resource, including definitions, explanations, best practices, and resources.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, PlanningDifferentiation: Multiple Means of Engagement, Representation, and Expression
When teaching her special needs students at PS M811 Mickey Mantle School in Manhattan, Alana Robinson employs differentiation to make sure each student is engaged.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, VideoWhat Is a Meaningful CS Unit?
By 2025 all schools will provide their students with at least a meaningful CS unit, this resource delves into the requirements for a meaningful CS unit including content, pedagogy, and assessment.
Categories: AssessmentSetting Up Classroom Structures
Are you struggling to set up structures in your classroom to support CS learning? Check out this video to learn how to get young students self assessing, using proper CS terms, and asking higher order computational thinking questions of each other.
Categories: Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, VideoRunning A Hackathon
Interested in running a hackathon with your students? You can do it! Hackathons are a great way to get students involved in computer science. In this video, Darlene’s students work together in diverse teams to make a school-related website.
Categories: School Culture, VideoCollaboration In The Computer Science Classroom
Help your students develop the skills they need to succeed in the team-based work environments of the 21st century.
Categories: Classroom Management, VideoPuzzling Through Problems Together
Unfamiliar with CS? Don’t be afraid, you can do it too! Check out this video to learn strategies from a fellow teacher who’s new to CS. Watch as the teacher fosters collaboration in her classroom and learns along with her students.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, VideoProject-Based Learning: Learning Real World Skills Through Long-Term Collaboration
Renne Castro uses Project Based Learning to teach his students more than just the fundamentals of computer science. Renne’s Bayside High School students come together in teams to work on a four-month project of their own choosing…
Categories: Assessment, Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, VideoFlipped Classrooms: Individualizing Instruction With Video Lessons
This video resource showcases the flipped classroom model, where students learn concepts during homework time and work on assignments during class time.
Categories: Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, Planning, VideoHow Can I Utilize the Devices Already in My School?
You don’t need the newest or most powerful computers to implement computer science education in your schools. We discuss the issues and options you should consider when making things work in your school.
Categories: Device Management, PlanningCollaborative Languages: Learning English and CS
In this video, we see similarities between learning programming and spoken languages. The teacher’s development of non-verbal cues in the classroom helps students to learn complex CS concepts.
Categories: Classroom Management, School Culture, VideoDifferentiation: Kids Reaching Their Full Potential
Eric Allatta has a mission: Make sure all of his students master their computer science curriculum while simultaneously ensuring there’s no cap to what any one student can learn.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, School Culture, VideoHow Might I Evaluate Student Progress?
Creating evaluation metrics is a difficult yet important task for any effective classroom. This resource contains tips on assessing and evaluating students in the context of a CS unit.
Categories: Assessment, Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, PlanningHow Might I Proactively Differentiate My CS Instruction to Reach All Learners?
The Universal Design for Learning framework is proactive in planning curriculum for all students. This resource instructs on how to evaluate potential CS curriculum for UDL standards.
Categories: Device Management, Instructional Strategies, PlanningHow Might I Manage Group CS Projects?
Collaboration is a key concept, used by educators and software engineers alike. A good CS classroom will include lots of collaboration, but how does one manage it? This resource details strategies for structuring and encouraging student groups.
Categories: Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, Planning, School CultureOptimizing Instruction: The Workshop Model
The Workshop Model is a popular and effective classroom model for developing new skills. This video resource showcases how to bring the workshop model into the CS classroom.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, VideoTools for Translation: English Language Learners Code in Two Languages
In JoAnn Westhall’s fifth grade classroom at PS 31Q in Bayside, Queens, all students, including English Language Learners, get the exact same lesson at the exact same time.
Categories: Classroom Management, Instructional Strategies, School Culture, VideoCS Unplugged: Teaching and Learning CS Without Devices
Computer science principles can apply to much more than just using technology. Unplugged activities allow students to explore computing impact and concepts without electronics, making the lessons accessible to all classrooms.
Categories: Instructional Strategies, Video