Engineering and Computer Science Essentials™ Grade 1

Engineering Unit:

Optical engineers design technologies that use light to do something useful—from lasers and telescopes to fiber-optic communication systems. In the storybook Omar’s Time to Shine, an Egyptian boy uses what he learns from optical engineers working inside an ancient tomb to develop a system for lighting the dancers in a school performance. Students think like optical engineers as they explore how light interacts with different materials. They then use what they’ve learned to design, test, and improve systems to illuminate hieroglyphs inside model tombs.

Computer Science Unit:

Computer scientists program robots to complete tasks that are difficult for humans to do. In the computer science story Omar’s Robotic Reach, when Omar loses a gem from his costume, he programs a robot to retrieve it from under the stage. Students explore how to write an algorithm to tell a robot how to move, then work through a series of investigations to program a robot such as the Code & Go® Robot Mouse. They then design, create, test, debug, and improve a program to make a robot navigate a maze.

Unit Core Program Components 

• Digital Teacher Guide
• Digital Storybook (Engineering)
• Digital Storybook Epilogue
  (Computer Science)
• Materials Kits