CoSpaces in Elementary School

I’ve been using CoSpaces with my 5th graders (9 and 10 year olds) for 2 years now. It is one of my favorite units that I teach. I thought I would share some of my lessons with this community. When I started I had very little experience with working in 3D or programming. I’ve taught myself a lot in the past 2 years and in turn taught my students. That being said, the key is patience! Take it one step at a time.

Lesson 1: Exploration
The first day is pure exploration. I show the students where the library is and how to drag items from the library to the “world” I also show them how to choose an environment. They use the class to practice moving and adding items.

Lesson 2: Exploration
The second lesson I show the students the menu for the items. They experiment with adding animations and words. They also practice moving characters again. This is often very difficult for them because they’ve never worked in 3D. It takes about 3 classes I find to be comfortable.

Lesson 3: Building blocks
The students can only use the building blocks. They practice grouping to make new items. I created a ski mountain for them to see. They use the material tool also to change colors of the objects they’ve created. In this lesson they also use the lock feature.

Lesson 4: Working in groups
For this lesson I create groups of students. They go through the last 3 lessons again but working as a group. The goal is to learn to work simultaneously is very challenging the first time. It takes a while to figure out how to work together.

Lesson 5: Working with path
I demonstrate how to make a path. I review turning code on for everything. Then the students work on their worlds and add a path for something in it.

Lesson 6-10:
They work in a group or alone and build a world.

Hope this is helpful to teachers new to CoSpaces

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Hi, this is great. I am starting to use CoSpaces for 6th graders. I like your lesson plans. Do you have the details to these lesson plans? Do you have a student workbook? Thanks!

Thanks for sharing @Mary_Beth_Burns! Those are great plans and allow for kids to develop their skills in a nice procession.