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Middle School Computer Science: A Beginner's Workshop with Learning Blade

Target Audience: 6-8th Grade Teachers

The Learning Blade "Intro to Coding" course is an easy way to introduce middle school students to computer science. This workshop will acclimate you with the course which contains 20 hours of online and offline student learning including robust teacher lesson plans. Lessons will introduce students to computer hardware and software, writing simple algorithms, beginning programming, and cybersecurity and personal security. The course finishes by exploring several common IT careers. Introduction to Coding provides a ready-to-implement resource for the computer science classroom. In this session you will experience online lessons and unplugged activities, learn how to navigate the course guide, and practice coding activities with a former AP Computer Science teacher. Participants should bring a laptop and sign up for a free Learning Blade account in advance.

Impact Areas

Virtual workshop details

The 2024 workshop has closed. We hope to see you in 2025!

Two male students code on a laptop computer

Meet your instructor

Jennifer Gregory
Tenneseee state manager, Learning Blade 

Jennifer Gregory is the Tennessee state manager for Learning Blade focusing on district and school-wide implementation strategies. She attended Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, earning dual bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and Secondary Mathematics Education. She is a former AP Computer Science Teacher and a four-year secondary math and computer science educator with experience teaching in Tennessee and Colorado. She values that her work supports educators in helping students see how they could fit in the STEM field and helps teachers get started with Computer Science education.