3. What is Computer Science?

Welcome to CS First Storytelling! Over the next 8 days of this club, you will get to create some exciting, interesting stories using computer science.

Today, you’ll learn what computer science is, find out what kinds of stories you’ll make in this club, and finally, make your own program.

CS First Storytelling is a computer science club. Computer science uses computers to make amazing projects (also called programs) that allow people to entertain, solve problems, do work, and save time. In this club, you'll learn many different ways computer science relates to things you do and see every day--you might be surprised!

In this club, you will create stories with the projects you build. However, people use computer science to build all kinds of projects and solve many types of problems, from sharing pictures across the world to dispatching a fire engine in an emergency.

Over the next 8 club sessions, you’ll be introduced to some of the incredible creations people build and problems people solve using computer science. You will also learn how to use computer science to create your own stories and programs. When this club ends, you will have a collection of your own stories that you’ve made while learning computer science. Take a look at some sample stories that you’ll have a chance to build over the next 8 club sessions.

In today's activity, you will tell the story of a character who is walking through a scene and reacting to the objects he sees. You will also learn about Scratch, a computer science programming language. You'll begin with a starter project that already contains some programming code to help you start your story. The starter code makes your main character move up and down like it is walking, and it lets you add other objects to your story for your main character to react to.

First, take a look at the story options, and choose the one you will use.

After this video is over, click the Starter project link to the right of this video that matches your selection. The videos will use the "Pet Store Starter Project" as an example, but you will build your story in the starter project you choose. The starter project link will open Scratch in a new tab. Click the Remix button in Scratch to make a copy of the starter project, then sign in to Scratch with the username and password you wrote in your CS First Club Passport. It is important to sign in to Scratch so that you can access all of your creations later. Next, click the CS First tab at the top of your browser to return to this page. Click the green “next” arrow to move on to the next video, which will teach you how to start your story.

Take a moment now to make sure you are signed in to the cs-first website using the username and password from your passport. If you are not signed in, you won’t receive a digital badge for completing this activity, so be sure to sign in!

Now, it's your turn! Choose a story starter, and click the starter project link of your choice. Remix the project in Scratch, sign in, then return to this tab to watch the next video.