Code.org's most flexible course, allowing each unit to be taught alone, combined into collections that focus on specific areas, or as a full year course. The free curriculum introduces students to building their own websites, apps, animations, games, and physical computing systems. Explore curriculum options
This curriculum is all inclusive, well organized, and student centered! The incredible organization in the curriculum is what makes me use it year after year.
Maria Sellers • CS Discoveries Teacher
With the diverse set of options offered for CS Discoveries, there is a course for all different needs.
Through 7 units students explore a wide variety of topics.
An introductory computer science course that empowers students to create authentic artifacts and engage with computer science as a medium for creativity, communication, problem solving, and fun.
Each unit of CS Discoveries can be used on its own with no prior experience required, which allows you to pick the exact units that work for your classroom.
Use a problem-solving process to tackle puzzles, challenges, and real-world scenarios. Learn about computer input, output, storage, and processing to aid in problem-solving.
Create programmatic images, animations, interactive art, and games. Gain familiarity with programming concepts and the design process.
Create and share content on web pages, exploring the creative potential of the web. Develop critical consumption skills, problem-solving abilities, and teamwork while programming.
Focus on considering the societal impact of computing. Through design challenges, students empathize with others' needs and develop solutions.
Emphasizes the role of data in problem-solving and the assistance of computers in this process. Cover representation systems and associated challenges. Discover how data collections aid problem-solving.
Explore the role of physical devices in computing. Develop programs that utilize hardware inputs and outputs. There is a version of this unit for both the micro:bit and Circuit Playground.
Explore how computers learn from data. Develop machine learning projects around real-world data. Design a machine learning app to solve a personally relevant problem.
Dive deeper into one area with a set of units focused on a specific topic.
Empowers students to use data and physical devices to solve problems.
Empowers students to think about the needs of users while designing websites and apps for devices.
Empowers students to think about computer science as a tool to solve problems while considering the broader social impacts.
Empowers students to be creative as they learn to create websites, animations and games, and apps for devices.
Empowers students to build their coding skills in web development, games and animation, and creating apps for devices.
Empowers students to use data to solve problems.
Sign up for a Code.org account to get access to materials that will help you teach computer science with confidence. Code.org has extensive resources designed to support educators, even those without prior CS teaching experience.
Get step-by-step guidance, learning objectives, and assessment strategies for effective teaching.
Helpful resources include slide decks, activity guides, rubrics, and more — all organized in one place. Each lesson plan is accompanied by tips for classroom implementation, differentiation ideas, and extension activities to cater to students of all abilities.
Introducing How AI Works
Watch easy-to-understand overviews of computer science and programming concepts.
Code.org video series are designed specifically to support your classroom and are engaging and fun to watch.
Our curricula includes a comprehensive system of formative and summative assessment resources.
These include rubrics, checklists, mini-projects, end-of-chapter projects, student-facing rubrics, sample projects, and post-project tests — all designed to support teachers in measuring student growth, providing feedback, and evaluating student understanding.
Our powerful progress view helps you monitor student work by providing insights into completion status, time spent, and more. Easily track each student's learning journey, quickly assess participation, and give personalized feedback.
Lesson PlansGet step-by-step guidance, learning objectives, and assessment strategies for effective teaching.
Helpful resources include slide decks, activity guides, rubrics, and more — all organized in one place. Each lesson plan is accompanied by tips for classroom implementation, differentiation ideas, and extension activities to cater to students of all abilities.
Introducing How AI Works
Watch easy-to-understand overviews of computer science and programming concepts.
Code.org video series are designed specifically to support your classroom and are engaging and fun to watch.
Our curricula includes a comprehensive system of formative and summative assessment resources.
These include rubrics, checklists, mini-projects, end-of-chapter projects, student-facing rubrics, sample projects, and post-project tests — all designed to support teachers in measuring student growth, providing feedback, and evaluating student understanding.
Our powerful progress view helps you monitor student work by providing insights into completion status, time spent, and more. Easily track each student's learning journey, quickly assess participation, and give personalized feedback.
Get the support you need as you prepare to teach. Teachers love it, with over 90% ranking it the best professional development ever!
Our highly supportive Professional Learning Program will bring you together with a group of teachers to learn from each other as well as expert facilitators as you take on the first year of teaching the free curriculum to your students. In-person and virtual workshops are starting this summer.
Through reading, viewing videos, completing interactive puzzles, and reflecting on your learning, you will develop your own understanding while preparing to teach computer science in your classroom.
CS Discoveries was written using both the K-12 Framework for Computer Science and the 2017 CSTA standards as guidance. Currently, every lesson in CS Discoveries contains mappings to the relevant 2017 CSTA standards. A summary of standards mappings can be found here. A Google Sheets version of the standards can be found at CSD Standards.
How/Where can I get professional development for this course?
Our Professional Learning Program offers year-round support. The program kicks off with a five-day summer workshop where you'll have an opportunity to work hands-on with the curriculum and meet other teachers from your area. Throughout the year, we offer follow up workshops and forum support. You don't need any prior computer science experience to get started. And teachers love it! 90% rank it the best professional development ever. Click here to apply and learn more.
I'm teaching CS Discoveries but have less than one semester with my students. What would you recommend?
Teachers who have a restricted schedule, unable to teach all units of CS Discoveries over the course of a school year, can now easily assign a specific set of CS Discoveries units based on what they want to focus on. These collections are still the same exact units found in CS Discoveries, simply grouped together based on our recommendations below to dive deep in a specific area of CS Discoveries. Each collection is approximately one semester or slightly less than one semester. Click here to see our Collections options.
For teachers who have an even more restricted schedule, they have the ability to assign just one unit at a time from CS Discoveries without assigning the entire course. We hope this helps support classrooms that teach units of CS Discoveries embedded as part of larger courses or when teaching computer science on a limited schedule. Click here to see our flexible units.
What materials and supplies are required for CS Discoveries?
One potential cost to consider when teaching this course is printing. Many lessons have handouts that are designed to guide students through activities. While it is not required that all of these handouts be printed, many were designed to be printed and we highly recommend printing when possible.
Beyond printing, some lessons call for typical classroom supplies and manipulatives such as: Student journals, poster paper, markers/colored pencils, scissors, scrap paper, glue or tape, post-it notes or index cards (or similar sized scrap paper), and rulers or a straight edge of some kind.
In addition to those general course materials, the following items are called for in specific units:
Problem Solving and Computing
Creating Apps with Devices (Option A and Option B)
*Note: The Creating Apps with Devices unit has two implementation options - one for those using circuit playgrounds and one for those using micro:bit. Teachers should not buy both sets of devices or teach both unit options as they are equivalent and cover the same content.
How can I access answer keys?
With an approved teacher account, you can find answer keys in a blue "Teacher Only" panel that shows in the online lessons and activities.
Teachers in our Professional Learning Program will automatically be approved to view answer keys. If you need an approved teacher account, you can apply for access to protected teacher-only materials (answer keys, etc) through this form. Please keep in mind that it may take 3-5 business days to verify your account.
How does CS Discoveries fit with the other Code.org courses?
CS Discoveries is designed to fit naturally between our CS Fundamentals courses and our CS Principles course. While each of these courses is designed to be an age-appropriate entry point to computer science, students with previous experience will find many new topics to explore, and they will revisit familiar topics in novel and more challenging contexts.
Our support team is here to answer any questions you may have about starting teaching with Code.org. You can also ask other teachers about their experience on our teacher forums.
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