Book

A blocky introduction to programming. You've bested creepers, traveled deep into caves, and maybe even gone to The End and back—but have you ever transformed a sword into a magic wand? Built a palace in the blink of an eye? Designed your own color-changing disco dance floor? In Learn to Program with Minecraft®, you'll do all this and more with the power of Python, a free language used by millions of professional and first-time programmers!

Scratch is a fun, free, beginner-friendly programming environment where you connect blocks of code to build programs. While most famously used to introduce kids to programming, Scratch can make computer science approachable for people of any age. Rather than type countless lines of code in a cryptic programming language, why not use colorful command blocks and cartoon sprites to create powerful scripts?

Understanding how computer programming works is a critical part of digital literacy for students today. Even students who aren't learning how to code can benefit greatly from knowing how programs work. This book uses highly engaging games to immerse students in the world of logical thinking and problem solving. From programming robots to writing stories that work as interactive fiction games, the lessons in this book provide ways to build digital literacy beyond the computer lab.

Games:

This report summarizes the second of two workshops on computational thinking, which was held February 4-5, 2-10, in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee for the Workshops on Computational Thinking.

This report summarizes a workshop on the nature of computational thinking held February 19-20, 2009 in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee for the Workshops on Computational Thinking. The workshop was structured to gather inputs and insights from computer scientists, information technologists, and disciplinary experts knowledgeable about how computational thinking might be relevant to their domains of expertise.

Teachers nationwide are adopting immersive technology -- devices and software that provide augmented, virtual and mixed reality experiences -- to enable students to go on virtual field trips, manipulate 3D objects and augment the world around them. Immersive technology resources can be far less costly than many believe, but there are issues school districts should resolve before making purchases and implementing this technology.