Creative Coding: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Computer Science Across the 6-8 Curriculum

Computer science doesn’t have to wait for a separate class on the timetable. In Creative Coding, educator and curriculum developer Josh Caldwell shows middle-school teachers how coding and computational thinking can connect with the subjects students are already studying—without requiring teachers to arrive as programming experts.

Bring computer science into the subjects you teach

Designed around language arts, social studies, science, and math, this book makes the case for meaningful connections between computing and core academic learning. Its focus is not simply adding a coding activity for novelty; it is finding ways for students to apply computer science in the context of another subject.

Start with teaching strategies, then put them to work

The opening section covers classroom approaches, the role of the teacher as a fellow learner, and how to select tools for middle-school projects. The subject-area sections that follow combine explanations of relevant connections with activities, including computer-free introductions to computer science concepts and coding projects tailored to different experience levels.

• Explore computer science connections in language arts, social studies, science, and math.
• Consider classroom strategies for communication, collaboration, authenticity, and student ownership.
• Use assessment and feedback approaches suited to work that brings together subject-area learning and coding.
• Help students work through debugging and persistence when a program does not behave as expected.

Support for teachers new to coding—and those building partnerships

Caldwell writes for educators who may have little or no computer science background, as well as for technology and computer science teachers looking to collaborate with colleagues. The appendixes offer further learning resources, guidance for getting set up in App Lab, considerations for other programming languages, and ISTE Standards for Students.

For teachers looking for practical ways to make computer science part of everyday instruction, this book offers a cross-curricular starting point grounded in the realities of the middle-school classroom.