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Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

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This activity explores what it means for a computer to be intelligent and introduces the topic of what a computer program is and how everything computers do simply involves following instructions written by (creative) computer programmers. Learners interact with a piece of paper that contains rules for playing a perfect game of noughts-and-crosses (tic-tac-toe). The activity contains some thought provoking (and humorous) discussion questions. Explanation, variations, extensions, and resources are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Life Science; Mathematics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Game; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Paul Curzon

Battleships

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This activity explores the main algorithms that are used as the basis for searching on computers, using different variations on the game of battleships. This activity demonstrates three search methods for finding information in data: linear searching, binary searching and hashing. It also includes an optional introductory activity as well as a video showing a fun demonstration related to the same content.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Geometry
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Game; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Jane McKenzie; Mike Fellows; Robyn Adams; Tim Bell

Cryptographic Protocols

Cryptographic Protocols

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This activity about cryptographic techniques illustrates how to accomplish a simple, but nevertheless seemingly impossible task--making a fair, random choice by flipping a coin between two people who don't necessarily trust each other, and who are connected only by a telephone. Use this activity to introduce learners to cryptographic protocols and internet security/privacy issues. Variations, extensions, background information, and further reading suggestions are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lecture; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Mike Fellows; Tim Bell

Divide and Conquer

Divide and Conquer

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This activity introduces the idea of "divide and conquer" using a fictitious but serious problem--a pair of dirty socks has accidentally been wrapped in one of the presents that Santa is about to deliver, and he needs to figure out which present, to avoid a child getting a nasty surprise. Learners can watch an animated video, listen to a story, or read a book themselves. This resource includes ideas for follow-up group discussion.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Algebra
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lecture; Lesson Plan
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Jane McKenzie; Mike Fellows; Robyn Adams; Tim Bell

Ice Roads

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In this outdoor activity, learners use pegs (like tent pegs) and string or elastic to simulate drill sites and roads in Northern Canada. Learners are challenged with figuring out how to connect the roads to all the drill sites while keeping the total road length to a minimum. They'll discover that intersections or "Steiner" points provide efficiency between points within a network. Use this activity to introduce learners to computer science themes including Steiner trees, algorithms, and NP-complete problems. Variations, extensions, background information, and solutions are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Algebra
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Mike Fellows; Tim Bell

Information Hiding

Information Hiding

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This activity about cryptographic techniques illustrates a situation where information is shared, and yet none of it is revealed. A group of learners will calculate their average age without anyone revealing their own age. Use this activity to introduce learners to cryptographic protocols and internet security/privacy issues. Variations, extensions, background information, and further reading suggestions are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Life Science; Mathematics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Mike Fellows; Tim Bell

The Muddy City

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In this puzzle, learners investigate the decisions involved in linking a network between houses in a muddy city. It can lead on to a discussion of minimal spanning tree algorithms for optimizing networks. Additional activities, background information, and solutions are included, beginning on page 4 of the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Geometry
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Jane McKenzie; Mike Fellows; Robyn Adams; Tim Bell

Phylogenetics

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This activity lets learners participate in the process of reconstructing a phylogenetic tree and introduces them to several core bioinformatics concepts, particularly in relation to evolution. Groups of learners (at least 10) repeat a secret message (five to seven similar-sounding words) like the game "Telephone". In this version of the game, however, learners write and then code what they hear, creating a model of a phylogenetic tree and using a species distance matrix. This resource includes background information about phylogenetic trees, maximum parsimony, and matrix theory (see page 6-7 of PDF).

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Life Science; Mathematics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Game; Lesson Plan
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Jim Becker; Katrin Becker; Truman State University

The Poor Cartographer

The Poor Cartographer

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In this activity, learners help a poor cartographer color in the countries on a map, making sure each country is colored a different color than any of its neighbors. Through this exercise, learners discover the "has-to-be" rule and the value of place-holders. This activity reveals the complexity of graph coloring algorithms in computer science. Variations, extensions, background information, and solutions are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Geoscience
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Mike Fellows; Tim Bell

Programming Languages

Programming Languages

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In this activity related to computer programming, learners give directions to a "robot" (either an adult or another learner) and find out which instructions the robot is able to follow, and how their instructions are taken literally. This activity will simulate how computers follow instructions very precisely, which can be frustrating at times. This activity also helps learners understand instruction set size (large complex vs. small efficient).

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Life Science
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Jason Clutterbuck; Richard Nelson; Sebastian Hhna; Sebastian Hí_hna; Stefan Marks; Wilson Siringoringo

Sound Representation

Sound Representation

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In this activity, learners listen to songs and decode hidden messages based on the same principle as a modem. As a final challenge, learners decode the binary messages in a music video. This is an excellent follow-up activity to an introduction to binary numbers. Additional activities and background information about modems are included on page 3 of the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Chemistry; Physics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Jane McKenzie; Mike Fellows; Robyn Adams; Tim Bell

Tourist Town

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In this activity, learners use a fictitious map of "Tourist Town" and counters to problem solve how to place ice-cream vans on street intersections so that every other intersection is connected to one that has a van on it. Use this activity to introduce learners to computer science themes including nodes, dominating sets, exponential-time algorithms, polynomial-time algorithms, and NP-complete problems. Variations, extensions, background information, and solutions are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; Mathematics; Algebra; Geoscience
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Mike Fellows; Tim Bell

The Turing Test

The Turing Test

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This activity aims to stimulate discussion on the question of whether computers can exhibit Ňintelligence" or are ever likely to do so in the future. Learners play a game and try to distinguish between a human and a computer by asking questions and analyzing the answers. This game is similar to the Turing Test, founded by British mathematician Alan Turing. Variations, extensions, background information and further reading suggestions are included in the PDF.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Education; History, Law, Politics; Life Science; Mathematics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan; Simulation
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Mike Fellows; Tim Bell

Twenty Guesses

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This activity introduces the idea that computer scientists measure information by how "surprising" a message is. Learners play the game "20 Questions" and use the number of questions asked as a measure of the value of "information" in the answer. While this is not an intuitive idea, an image of a "decision tree" for guessing a number between 0 and 7 illustrates the relationship between the answers to the questions (yes=1 and no=0), and the answer (so if the answer is 3, then three questions whose answers are no, yes, yes yields 011, which is 3 in binary.

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Mathematics; Physics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Game; Lesson Plan
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Jane McKenzie; Mike Fellows; Robyn Adams; Tim Bell

You Can Say That Again!

You Can Say That Again!

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This activity helps students learn how computers "compress" text by identifying repeating patterns of letters, words, and phrases. Students use poems or nursery rhymes as their source text, draw boxes around repeating parts, and use arrows to point to earlier parts of the text that can be used to "uncompress" the text. The boxes and arrows are then related to the numbers that computers use in compression. An extension has students try compressing a much longer story, "The Three Little Pigs."

Subject:: Computing and Information; Engineering; Technology; Mathematics; Physics
Material Type:: Activity/Lab; Lesson Plan
Provider:: Computer Science Unplugged; Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE)
Provider Set:: Computer Science Unplugged; SMILE Pathway: Science and Math Activities in One Search
Author:: Brian Mason Scientific and Technical Trust; Computer Science Unplugged; Google Inc.; Ian Witten; Jane McKenzie; Mike Fellows; Robyn Adams; Tim Bell