Digital Arts & Media Class Syllabus - 8th grade

The 8th grade Digital Arts & Media curriculum builds on students design knowledge they have built over the last two
years at Byers. This year, students will be introduced to basic computer science principles that will prepare them for any
additional computer science courses that they may choose to take as high schoolers. Platforms for coding and
programming change frequently, so rather than learning to code right away, we spend our first trimester mastering the
way that computer scientists think and brainstorm.

Once we have learned how to think outside the box and solve problems in creative and innovative ways, we move into
video game design in Trimester 2. Byers has agreed to participate in a study conducted by Computer Science PhD
students CU Boulder, which results in our school gaining access to an amazing program called AgentCubes. We use
AgentCubes to program video games, and will continue the video game design through Spring Break.

Students will eventually create their own video game, and after Spring Break they return to physically build a controller
to play their game with. This class is intended to be an introduction to the world of computer science that approaches
the subject in a way that promotes joy, creativity and collaboration with others. I so look forward to witnessing the
amazing ideas and products your student is capable of creating.

Unit descriptions and grading policies are below - please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Lauren Schroer
Lauren.Schroer@scienceandtech.org

Year Overview:

Unit 1: The Internet

Students will learn how the multi-layered systems of the Internet function as they collaboratively solve
problems and puzzles about encoding and transmitting data.

Unit 2: Digital Information

Students will use a variety of digital tools to look at, generate, clean, and manipulate data to explore the
relationship between information and data. Students will create and use visualizations to identify patterns
and trends.

Unit 3: Intro to Video Game Design

Students will learn the basics of AgentCubes while building their own versions of Frogger and PacMan.

Unit 4: Games for Change

Students apply computational thinking pattern knowledge from Unit 3 to create their own video game that
focuses on an environmental or social issue of their choice.

Unit 5: Physical Computing

Students use Makey Makey devices to build their own controller for the video game they created in Unit 4.

Grading Policy
40% Weekly Participation:
Complete Do Nows
Actively participate in activities and turn & talks
Actively participate in discussions

30% Summatives:
Trimester 1 Summative Assessment will cover
Units 1 & 2
Trimester 2 Summative Projects will be the Frogger
and PacMan games created during Unit 3
Trimester 3 Summative Projects will be the Games
for Change Project as well as the final Makey
Makey controller in Unit 5

20% Formatives:
Each unit will include a formative assessment
towards the end of the unit
Mastery Check scores will be included in the gradebook as formative assessments

10% Homework:
Homework is rare in Digital Arts, but is graded according to completion

Absences and Make-up Work:

The downside of a class that only meets three times a week is that one absence can sometimes have a significant impact
on project completion. The great news about a class that meets three times a week is that there is plenty of time
between classes to make up any missed work due to an absence! Students should do their best to make up Digital Arts
classwork prior to returning to class. All materials will be posted on the OneNote, and Ms. Schroer will always be
available via email to discuss any makeup work. Of course each situation and circumstance is different, so the sole
expectation for students who will miss class is to communicate with the teacher as soon as possible.

Email: Lauren.Schroer@scienceandtech.org

CU Boulder Research Study permission slip:

You will find a permission slip attached in this packet for allowing your child to participate in a research study with CU
Boulders Computer Science department. By agreeing to participate in this study, Byers is able to use the program to
code video games (AgentCubes) at no cost. This research does not affect the way that the course is taught, nor your
students classroom experience. Each student will take a survey at the beginning and end of the game design units - if
you do not agree to participate in the research, your students survey will be discarded. The PhD students at CU typically
videotape one class with the intentions of documenting my practices as a teacher. If your student is in this class, they
may be seen on the tape and may be interviewed while working if they agree to discuss their project with any of the
researchers. If you do not agree to participate in the research study, and your student happens to be in the class that is
being recorded, the student will be seated in a spot in the room that is not shown on camera, and researchers will be
aware which students have agreed to the study and which have not.
This is a great opportunity to assist a university in their journey to improve computer science practices at the middle
school level!