5-8 Computational Thinking Units
Build a K-12 Computer Science Pathway
KIPP 2025 Goal: All 5-8 students complete at 140 hours of DCE instruction by the end of 8th grade (full CS Discoveries coverage or its equivalent (ie PLTW, Creative Computing)).
KIPP Navigate students show off their final unit projects from Computer Science Discoveries.
How are schools making this possible?
Scheduling and staffing varies by school and region. Below you will see how various regions are making CSD (and next year- AP CSP) a possibility for all students.
Semester-long, daily class that all
Year-long, daily class that all all freshman take (KIPP Bay Area)
Semester-long, daily elective class that some 8th graders take (KIPP NYC)
Year-long, daily elective class that some high school students take; most commonly 1-2 sections (KIPP Columbus, Houston, Austin, New Orleans, Massachusetts, ENC, Nashville)
Recommended Curricula:
Used in ~ 35 KIPP Schools
Curriculum Details: CSD is a semester or year long course utilizing Code.org’s free, online curriculum. All unit and daily level materials are provided along with a teacher dashboard to enable auto-grading for student work.
Training: Code.org offers training through a variety of local partners around the country. The 5 day training enables teachers to internalize the curriculum by seeing it in action through a series of model lessons. All participating teachers will teach one lesson whole group during their training experience. Training has received over 95% satisfaction from KIPP participants.
Ongoing Support: Code.org provides 4 follow-up PD sessions through the same local provider from summer training. These trainings usually take place on Saturday and are also available virtually. Teachers are also encouraged to utilize Code.org’s online forum to post questions.
Costs and Hardware: Chromebooks + one set of Adafruit Boards. (All teachers who complete Code.org’s training series will receive a free set for their class.) See Code.org’s technology requirements here. Curriculum is free. Training costs vary by region. Registration: Register for training through a local Code.org partner.
“The curriculum and training from Code.org is top notch. Students LOVE the tools provided (for free) by the curriculum like WebLab, AppLab, and GameLab and they learn by DOING, which is so powerful. Engagement is a non-issue! - Emily McGrath, KIPP New Orleans”
“CSD has been an amazing intro Computer Science course for our students! Students are super excited to create their own games and apps in a course that’s both rigorous and engaging. - Debbie Grashin, KIPP Columbus”
CS for Innovators and Makers
App Inventor
Used in ~ 15 KIPP Schools
Curriculum Details: Project Lead the Way offers two excellent CS courses for middle school. Each is designed to be one semester in length.
App Creators: This unit exposes students to CS as they develop solutions to authentic problems through mobile app development.
CS for Innovators and Makers: Students learn about CS in the physical world by blending hardware design with microbits and software development.
Training: Teachers can complete a 3-5 day training for each unit or an online training (2 hours per night for 8 weeks). All training costs $1200 per participant, not including travel costs. See your options here.
Ongoing Support: At the moment, KIPP is not providing direct support for PLTW. However, there is a robust PLTW community and teachers can stay connected to their PLTW trainer during the school year if they desire.
Costs and Hardware: Every school site pays at $950 annual registration fee + $1200 professional development. Calculate your cost here.
App Creator: Android Tablets required + $500 in materials
CS for Innovators and Makers: ~ $1700 for every 30 students
“CS for Innovators and Makers is extremely engaging and hands-on! Students are given the creative freedom and exploration which allows them to learn infinitely! The PLTW curriculum is great for new CS science teachers because they provide exemplar responses, in-depth examples, and videos for support. I was more than confident in my teaching because of the intentional prep from the curriculum.
- Zakiya Williams, KIPP Chicago”
“My 8th graders LOVE App Creator. It’s hard to get them out of my room.
- Emily Vogelsong, KIPP SoCal”
Code.org CS Fundamentals
For 5th graders, you can check out Code.org's CS Fundamentals course. It's free and training is offered around the country. The curriculum is similar in format to Computer Science Discoveries which we recommend for grades 6-8.
MSMakeCode + Microbits
Microsoft MakeCode brings computer science to life for all students with fun projects, immediate results, and both block and text editors for learners at different levels. Use MakeCode to program microbits and more!
