The “Who, What, and Why” of Programming
Objectives	Students will discuss the context of programming in society in response to the code.org video, What most schools don't teach and a content page about the principles of programming. The class will begin a KWL chart about programming. Students will generate a flowchart to outline a story/process.
Activities	Check-in: Spectrum Reflection of Programming Students will participate in a 'spectrum' activity in which they agree or disagree with statements about Programming. This activity is an anticipatory set for the unit, and will also be performed again at the end of the unit as a reflection activity, too. Post three signs in the classroom. At one end place one entitled AGREE, in the middle place one entitled NEUTRAL, and on the opposing end, place one entitled DISAGREE. Read one of the statements below (or one of your own), and ask students to place themselves along the spectrum according to how much they agree or disagree with each statement. Ask students to explain their decisions to stand where they stand. Students may move up and down the spectrum as others share their thoughts. As students relocate, ask them why to explain their reasoning. Make sure to hear from as many students as you can over the course of the entire discussion. Example statements: Programming affects my daily life. Programming is an important skill for everybody to learn. Anybody can code! I enjoy programming. Conditionals/loops/lists are the crux of programming! Why Program? Think-Pair-Share: The class will watch a popular video about why programming is important. Student pairs will read and discuss the narrative Why Program? before sharing their ideas with the class. The class will then consider the 'structured process' interpretation of the 'program' concept and model this idea through a flowchart. Explain to students: "Programming is an integral aspect of computer science, and becoming more prominent in our world everyday." Direct students to the Why Program? page. As a class, watch the video entitled What most schools don't teach at the top of the page. Before moving on, take time to ask the class to consider why the video was made, who funded it, and what their motivations likely were. Instruct students to individually read the accompanying text and be prepared to discuss programs afterward. When all students have finished reading the remaining passage, student pairs should discuss following questions in relation to the narrative: How does the ambiguity of the word "program" seemingly support Carla's paranoid theories of mind control? What do "mind control" and programming a computer have in common? Ask student pairs to share their ideas with the class—emphasizing relations to the general question, "What is a program?". Next, lead a class discussion about structured processing: Draw direct connections between the 'sequence of events' storyboard view of the watermelon scenario and the accompanying flowchart view. With the second flowchart example ("touching mud"), stress that an ordered sequence of events does not necessarily indicate linearity. Unlike the storyboard view, alternate paths are possible. This is akin to Choose Your Own Adventure books. Explain that this more complex flowchart view lends itself well planning Scratch programs, as they are visually and organizationally similar. For example, the process symbol may correspond to a discrete event in time, the arrow indicates progress through life (aging), a decision may be analogous to important life decisions (i.e., how might my life have been different?), and subroutines may indicate similar sequences of events that repeat (e.g., 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, etc.). Programming KWL Chart The class will begin a KWL chart about programming. Explain to students: "I'm sure that all of you have heard about programming somewhere, be it the media, your friends, YouTube, etc., and I'll bet that some of you have some experience programming, so let's organize what we know collectively about programming and what we want to learn about it. Navigate to the Programming Kwl Chart. Click "Edit the page" and ask students for suggestions about what they 'know' already about programming. Complete the chart as the discussion continues. You may want to A) have a student type into the KWL chart as a 'notetaker' while you facilitate the discussion, or B) ask students to discuss what they know in pairs before they share with the class. Flowcharts In pairs, students create flowcharts outlining some simple instructive process (e.g., "How to brush your teeth", "How to make a sandwich", etc.). As a general guideline for assessment, teachers may require flowcharts to contain a variety of components, such as a minimum of 5 steps, 1 decision, and input/output. Explain: "Today we are going to start programming...offline. If programs are like structured processes, we can program and describe these structured processes in our own terms, like with a flowchart or recipe." Direct students to the Flowcharts activity. Read the instructions as a class. Ask a student to summarize the instructions and answer any student questions that arise. Instruct students to work on the assignment in pairs. Monitor student work by walking around the classroom, asking guiding questions, and providing feedback about quality as necessary. Ask students to share their work with the class, and model how the structured process would work. The class may provide feedback as necessary to make it more efficient or effective. Optional extensions: Conduct a gallery walk—student pairs post their flowcharts around the classroom, and give feedback on other pairs' posters using sticky notes. Optional: Require students to produce a more detailed flowchart individually as homework. Homework: Who programs? Students will reflect upon and discuss (online) one of the individuals depicted from the code.org video or its accompanying page of quotes. Students will reply to each others' posts. Direct students to choose one person from the video or quotes page that is interesting in some way—perhaps what this person said is interesting, or maybe his/her appearance on a list of people discussing the importance of computer programming is surprising. Students will post to the discussion board Who programs? the name of the person chosen, what he/she said, and 2–3 sentences detailing why this person's perspective on programming is interesting. Afterwards, students read and reply to at least one of their classmates' posts, thoughtfully expressing agreement or disagreement with their classmates' perspectives.
Supplementary Resources	Common Flowchart Symbols