Select Lesson
Where to find the lesson plans
The LESSON PLANS are located on the TEACHERS TAB.
The menu displays the lesson plans that are currently available for our Junior, Pro, Free and Educational courses.
Notice the age bands, they indicate what is appropriate for most students of those ages.
You can use this as a guide for selecting the course in each track that will best meet the learning needs of your students.
From here you click on a name to select the appropriate lesson plan.
Watch this video on the Junior Lesson Plans
Watch this video on the Pro Lesson Plans
How to use lesson plans
Our lesson plans align with the tiles in the course library, making it easier to find the resource you are looking for and to appreciate the progression within each track at a glance.
Course overview and structure
The COURSE OVERVIEW section is designed to be used by teachers in their preparation and provides documentation about curriculum links and a high level overview of the online course.
- The first section, COURSE STRUCTURE explains the structure of the course and includes information about how long the online component might take the students to complete, ideas for navigating within the course, and a brief synopsis of the story line.
- The second section, CURRICULUM LINKS, provides links to the curricula of different countries. You will find how a particular course relates to areas of the New Zealand, Australian, United States of America and United Kingdom curricula here. You may find it helpful to refer to the curriculum guide, also accessible from the Teacher Tab.
- The final, COURSE OUTLINE section progresses the story line and provides the intended learning outcomes for each lesson and task. Teachers can print these off for their planning or refer to them for a quick reminder of the content and purpose of the lesson before the lesson is taught.
Lesson titles
In the left hand menu, below the course overview, you will find the titles of each lesson listed.
Clicking on each of these titles will load the information for that lesson.
This can be used:
- As part of launching the lesson.
- To clarify an area of the lesson that students might or are finding a challenge.
- To quickly access the online lesson or other resources or activities that relate to that lesson.
The parts of a lesson
- LESSON DESCRIPTION- The lesson is introduced with a brief introduction to the purpose of the lesson and the storyline. The student learning outcome of the lesson and written in language that students should be familiar with. It can help you focus them on the learning purpose of the lesson.
- START - The start button at the top righthand corner. This will take you to the online version of the lesson.
- VOCAB - The vocab list contains primarily technical words that students will come across in the lesson, they are directly linked to a glossary which will provide a definition. You may want to discuss these with your students before sending them off to work independently.
- TASK 1 - TASK 5 - The five tasks of a lesson are listed below the vocab list.
The tasks
There are 5 tasks in each lesson. Students complete activities in each task to progress.
In the lesson plans, each task is separately listed. These titles expand to include a student learning outcome for the task and a little more information about plot development or what the task involves. Screenshots, diagrams and additional explanations are provided that you can use to introduce new concepts to your students - setting them up for success prior to beginning a task, or providing further information or scaffolding when needed.
Video links are also included in these sections to provide additional background information for students. These may be to expand on a digital technology concept or to provide richer background knowledge for students with limited life experience of some aspect of the lesson or storyline. These links maybe embedded or included as a 'clickable'link. Please note that these sometimes link to external sites so it is good practice to preview them to ensure that they are working and appropriate before sharing with your students.
Within the task menu of the lesson plans you will find other expandable menus for activities, games, worksheets and quizzes. Equipment or materials necessary for each activity are listed to make preparation as easy as possible, clear instructions are provided and these can be shared when explaining an activity to students. Projects and quizzes, if available from the Couse Tile, can be useful for assessment at the end of sections within a topic to check understanding.
Unplugged activities
Unplugged activities and worksheets have been created for each course, you can find them in the Resource Library or in the Lesson Plans. The resource library lists the activities and the lesson plans suggest when to use them in the learning.
Watch this video on the Junior Unplugged Activities
Watch this video on the Pro Unplugged Activities
Activity types
There are three types of activities: group games, activities, and worksheets.
Group Games, like The Captain Calls, involve large groups of students or the whole class. Often requiring movement, these can reinforce concepts and allow for play.
Activities, like Origami Pets, usually have a physical or tactile element to them, like cutting or gluing. They can involve individuals, pairs or small groups of students.
Worksheets, like Pixel Paint, are paper based and suit individuals or pairs of students. They are easily printed from the preparation section.
Activity sections
There are 4-5 sections in each activity:
- The Objective gives the teacher the learning intention.
- The Background provides information on the computer science concept that this activity is linked to.
- Preparation lists the equipment or materials necessary for each activity.
- Instructions are provided and these can be shared when explaining an activity to students. Multiple versions of a worksheet or activity are usually available. This will assist you as the teacher to personalise the activity to the knowledge, skills or interests of your students.
- Answers for worksheets are provided through a link available to teacher but not student accounts - these can be displayed for students through the link provided.
