Context of the Standard

Computing enables people to use creative development processes to create computational artifacts for creative expression or to solve a problem.  A computational artifact is anything created by a human using a computer. Examples of computation artifacts include programs, images, audio, videos, presentations, or web page files. Computing has the potential to provide students opportunities to extend their creative expression to solve problems, create computational artifacts, and develop new knowledge. As students create block and text based programs, they move from being mere consumers of content to engaging in the subject matter by creating computational artifacts.

In fourth grade, students are expected to use block based or text based programming to develop basic programs that include sequences, loops, and variables.

Essential Skills

Essential Questions

Essential Vocabulary

Students should demonstrate these skills:

• Construct a program to accomplish an activity.
• Modify algorithms to use loops when appropriate.
• Declare a variable to store values when appropriate in an algorithm.
• Apply the use of variables in a math calculation.

Students should investigate these concepts:

• What is the role of a variable in a program?
• How do you decide when to use a loop in your algorithm?
• How do you decide when to use a variable in your algorithm?

Students should apply these terms in context:

• Algorithm
• Loop
• Variable