Professional

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!

JavaScript is the programming language of the Internet, the secret sauce that makes the Web awesome, your favorite sites interactive, and online games fun!

JavaScript for Kids is a lighthearted introduction that teaches programming essentials through patient, step-by-step examples paired with funny illustrations. You'll begin with the basics, like working with strings, arrays, and loops, and then move on to more advanced topics, like building interactivity with jQuery and drawing graphics with Canvas.

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?

The Ruby programming language is perfect for beginners: easy to learn, powerful, and fun to use! But wouldn't it be more fun if you were learning with the help of some wizards and dragons?

Ruby Wizardry is a playful, illustrated tale that will teach you how to program in Ruby by taking you on a fantastical journey. As you follow the adventures of young heroes Reuben and Scarlet, you'll learn real porgramming skills, like how to:

Join the learning revolution sweeping the globe!

3D printers, robotics, programming, wearable computing, and Arduino capture the imaginations of today's student. When exciting new technologies combine with hands-on traditions, your classroom becomes a maker-space where learning soars. The time is now to place invention and creativity ahead of worksheets and testing.

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.

Since Don't Make Me Think was first published in 2000, hundreds of thousands of Web designers and developers have relied on usability guru Steve Krug's guide to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design. Witty, commonsensical, and eminently practical, it's one of the best-loved and most recommended books on the subject.

The world of Raspberry Pi is evolving quickly, with many new interface boards and software libraries becoming available all the time. In this cookbook, prolific hacker and author Simon Monk provides more than 200 practical recipes for running this tiny low-cost computer with Linux, programming it with Python, and hooking up sensors, motors, and other hardware—including Arduino.

We all know the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, but to often we forget that the colonies were almost a year into the Revolutionary War by the time of the signing. Can you replicate historical success? Or will your colonies fall back under British rule? Building upon 1775: Rebellion, an award winning board game, this book presents a week-long unit with detailed lesson plans, primary source documents, and additional instructional resources for teaching the American Revolution through play.

Slavery is a sensitive topic in American history. This book provides resources and lesson plans for a week-long unit covering slavery, the Underground Railroad, and the abolition movement built around an award-winning board game. In Freedom: The Underground Railroad, students will take on the role of abolitionists helping slaves reach freedom in Canada. Background knowledge, primary source documents, and detailed lesson plans on teaching slavery and using the game provide full support for instruction. Customized Freedom mini-game scenarios designed by Brian Mayer and Christopher Harris.

This book provides broad support for using games in middle and high school science classes including Earth science/living environment, biology, chemistry, and physics. The lesson plans and resources support a play-based approach to evolution, ecosystems, cellular organisms, elements and compounds, and vector motion. Though easy to learn, the included games provide detailed scientific accuracy allowing complex simulations and immersive learning experiences.

Games:

Evolution. Dominic Crapuchettes, Dmitry Knorre, Sergey Machin. North Star Games, 2014.