This document discusses connecting students to real-life STEM problems through coding and computational thinking. It provides examples of coding curriculum and projects that develop students' problem-solving skills. These include coding frogs to jump between lily pads, coding beavers to follow a flowchart, coding robots to navigate mazes, and coding drones to race. The goal is to foster students' creativity and curiosity in coding by engaging them in cross-curricular, tangible coding projects that mimic real-world challenges.

1. Connecting Students to !
Real-Life STEM Problems
Daniel Budd
Corpus Christi College!
!
@danielbbudd

2. www.danielbudd.com.au
Connecting Students to
Real-life STEM Problems

3. SETTING THE SCENE

4. PLAN DESIGN
BUILD CODE
MOBILISE TEST / IMPROVE

5. CANYOUSEETHENUMBERS?

6. P E R T H , W . A .
CorpusChristiCollege

7. DigitalThinking
C O M P U L S O R Y C O D I N G
Giving ALL students the
opportunity to learn how to
code and design algorithms

8. computational
thinking
DECOMPOSE
ALGORITHM
PATTERN MATCHING
ABSTRACTION

9. samplequestions
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
White squares represent lily pads and grey squares represent water.
A frog may jump from one lily pad to another, horizontally or vertically.
It can jump over large spans of water, but it may not jump over another
lily pad.
Beginning on the lily pad marked ‘F’, what is the minimum number of
jumps the frog needs in order to ensure that it can reach any other lily
pad?
1
1 22
2
2
2
3
3
3
3 3
3
4
44
4
4 4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5 5
5 JUMPS

10. samplequestions
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
In school, beavers make complicated calculations using this flowchart.
They begin with a number at “start” and follow the instructions.
When starting with the number 18, what is the number when finished?

11. codingsolutions
COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
These problems are often solved without coding and a way to teach
students about the problem solving skills necessary to !
design an algorithm.
The following solution has been coded in Swift.

12. Fostering creativity and curiosity in coding
preparatoryinitiatives
Students are introduced to block-level coding at an early age to foster
creativity and curiosity in coding. Students begin to break down
problems and learn the vocabulary necessary to ask high-level
questions necessary to solve problems.
Whist the Australian Curriculum support the integration of coding
through the Technologies Curriculum, teachers need support to delivery
meaningful projects.

13. hopscotch:geometry&
transformations
CROSS-CURRICULAR CODING
Available for free on the iBooks Store

14. BUILDING CREATIVITY THROUGH CODING

15. focus develop algorithms and
expand to frameworks capable of
controlling hardware
swiftdevelopment

16. EVERYONE CAN CODE

17. MASSACHUSETTSINSTITUTE
OFTECHNOLOGY
DrSeymourPapert
WORLD-RENOWNED MATHEMATICIAN,
LEARNING THEORIST, & EDUCATIONAL-
TECHNOLOGY VISIONARY

18. Constructivist approach to !
learning coding modelled off
Seymour Papert’s Logo.
logoevolution

19. Interactive capabilities in Swift
Playgrounds allowed me to develop
my own logo simulation.
geometry with!
swiftplaygrounds
available for FREE on iTunes U

20. Swift playground course !
which utilises SpriteKit.
spriteinvaders with!
swiftplaygrounds
available for FREE on iTunes U

21. Swift playground course !
which utilises UIKit.
blackjack with!
swiftplaygrounds
available for FREE on iTunes U

22. probability
Available for FREE on the iBooks Store

23. benefitofpublishing

24. INTEGRATED CODING FEEDBACK

25. Beautiful blend of coding & modern
mathematics including networks,
logic & algorithms
informatics

26. The aim of the camp is to prepare
students for informatics competition
like that Canadian Computing
Competition (CCC) & the Australian
Informatics Olympiad (AIO).
codingcamps

27. spherosprk+
TANGIBLE CODING
GOES OVER 4.5 MPH
INDUCTIVE CHARGING WITH
OVER 1HR OF PLAY
USES CORE BLUETOOTH
FRAMEWORK
EASY PROXIMITY
CONNECTIVITY

28. dashdots
TANGIBLE CODING
PROGRAMMABLE LED
LIGHTS
INFRARED & DISTANCE
SENSORS
USES CORE BLUETOOTH
FRAMEWORK
BUILT IN MICROPHONES &
SPEAKERS

29. parrotdrones
TANGIBLE CODING
GOES OVER 18.64 MPH
TAKE PICTURES, FLIPS,
SHOOTS & GRABS SMALL
OBJECTS
CORE BLUETOOTH
FRAMEWORK
VERTICAL TAKE-OFF /
LANDING

30. PLYMOUTHUNIVERSITY
DrNicholasOutram
http://www.arm.com/
SCHOOL OF COMPUTING,
ELECTRONICS & MATHEMATICS

31. MazeBots
A U T O N O M O U S R O B O T S
Developing students curiosity and
understanding of robotics and
artificial intelligence

32. Students are introduced to
programming open-source micro-
controllers at the age of twelve.
arduinorobotics

33. cheaprobotics
MAZE BOT DESIGN
3D PRINTED WHEELS
LIGHT SENSORS TO DETECT
PROXIMITY TO WALLS
ARDUINO MICRO-
CONTROLLER FOR
PROGRAMMING LOGIC
LASER CUT !
ACRYLIC CHASSIS

34. The Open Academic Robot Kit harnesses the
flexibility of 3D printing technology, the rapidly
decreasing cost of power, off-the-shelf
robotic, computing and electronic
components, the power of modern
component-based robot software
architectures and the imagination of the open
source community.
EmuBots
S E A R C H A N D R E S C U E
OARKIT IS AN ACADEMIC ROBOTICS
ECOSYSTEM, CONSISTING OF
HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, TEST
APPARATUSES AND AN INT. COMMUNITY

35. CURTINUNIVERSITY
DrRaymondSheh
http://intelligentrobots.org
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTING

36. The chassis made-up of laser cut and 3d-printed
parts which are modified by the students.
chassisdesign&
electronics
Students are able to quickly prototype new chassis designs to improve
airflow for electronics, weight distribution for overcoming obstacles or
adding additional mounts for components and sensors.
Information for getting involved can be found at OARKIT website
Download from

37. Arduino & Raspberry Pi micro-controllers are used
to communicate with pilots
datavisualisation&
communication
Students must utilise their informatics skills to interpret serial data (Rx /
Tx) and send keystrokes from their controllers wirelessly to the robot.
Whilst example code is available on the OARKIT website students
frequently fine new libraries and methods for improving their coding,
implementing threading techniques or recursive algorithms.
Information for getting involved can be found at OARKIT website

38. The Open Academic Robot Kit is closely aligned
with the RoboCup Rescue Robot League.
terrain&!
competitionarena
The RoboCup community of teams working to advance the state of
response robot technologies. This research competition exposes
students and researchers to real world challenges. RoboCup test
methods are developed in close collaboration with responders and are
used to assist government agencies and military organisations in
specifying and procuring robots worldwide.
Information for getting involved can be found at OARKIT website

39. theemubot
OPEN ACADEMIC ROBOTICS KIT
3D PRINTED WHEELS
LASER CUT CHASSIS
ARDUINO & RASPBERRY PI
MICRO-CONTROLLERS
DYNAMIXEL !
SMART SERVOS

40. DroneRacing
2 1 C F P V S P O R T S
It’s clear that drones certainly have
a ‘wow factor’ but how do use them
in a school setting?

41. the best ways to use drones in the
classroom is to have students
design & build their own
droneracingleague

42. PRACTICE FLIGHT AT CORPUS

43. QUESTIONS
ST CENTURY
LEARNING
INTERNATIONAL
Building Communities of Learners