One of the fabulous things about being a teacher and a computer science curriculum developer with a huge amount of freedom is the ability to explore, play, and tinker with new things! I played with a variety of frameworks, libraries, and languages while teaching at PHS. Most of it made it to the classroom, some of it didn’t, most of it was a hit, and a few things didn’t really connect with students and quietly got shelved.
Below are a few example projects that I created to introduce students to some of the key concepts. Want more? Check out my GitHub and Replit!
Python
Crafted a Python-centered curriculum to better prepare students for internships at Caltech in the astronomy department.
ml5.js
It was very exciting to introduce students to a fun, easy-to-use graphical machine learning library called ml5.js back in 2018. Students made their own “Snapchat filters,” among other things!
A-Frame
A-Frame is a library that allows students to write interactive 3D scenes (like the solar system below) using HTML and JavaScript. It can also be viewed in 3D goggles using your phone!
Data analysis and visualization
Students explored various data analysis and data visualization libraries like pandas and seaborn.
Tarot Deck
A colleague from the art department asked if I could put together a little application to display random “tarot throws” of three cards each using art from her students. I created a very simple PHP app in Replit, which allowed her to just drag and drop image files into a folder. She was very happy with the result, and was able to duplicate the project and use it for multiple classes!
Code here.
Text Adventure Games
Text adventure games are a favorite of mine: I’ve assigned them in JavaScript and in Python for different classes! I’m in awe of the fun, wacky, poetic stories students produce for these, and they leave a lot of room for students to come up with additional functionality.
