Computer Instruction at Saint Luke School
Computer classes at St Luke School are offered from 1st through 8th grade and are designed to increase student confidence, skills and creativity by fostering mastery of basics, student exploration & learning culminating in the production of a series of upper school projects and collaborations.  Technically, we focus on the key areas of file management, keyboarding, using both installed and web-based applications, data analysis & equipment use and safe & appropriate internet surfing.  Creatively - we will focus on synthesizing, gathering and organizing digital assets such as images, sounds, video and data into our projects for use in computer lab projects and for class assignments.   Students will be introduced and focused on a range of applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint as well as Adobe Creative Suite with Flash, Fireworks and Dreamweaver and Photoshop.  In addition, students work with robotics, creating programs to overcome a series of increasingly complex challenges.  Final projects are enhanced by digital music and sound effects as well as video and voiceover sound design.
By the time our students have reached the upper school, our goal is to have “launched out of the lab” a set series of skills on the computer into the wider school curriculum.  For example, while we periodically review and touch on some aspects of using Microsoft Office (such using formulas in Excel and interactivity in Power Point), it is generally expected that by the sixth grade, students will be able to (either with Office or an equivalent application) write for language arts class in Word, collect and analyze data for science class in Excel, and present in social studies class using Power Point.  St Luke School has a password protected school intranet deployed with different levels of access to all workstations used by students and faculty.  Students are encouraged to save all work on this network to allow them to collaborate and learn during team-based projects.

Curriculum Guidelines
Grades 1-3:  It’s never too early to introduce kids to Word, Excel and PowerPoint!  With an initial strong focus on keyboarding and file management – our young computer experts learn to express their growing literacy through the keyboard with periodic writing assessments during the school year.  We learn how to keep lists and numbers all lined up nice and neat in Excel and learn how much fun it can be to add and subtract chart data! By the third grade, we learn how to tie it all together in PowerPoint when we bring in our writing, pictures, sounds and animations to presentations we make before the entire class. 
Grades 4-6:  Having mastered the basics – our budding computer stars are ready to bring their enthusiasm and energy to a series of complex research, design and programming challenges.  We start by directly linking internet research projects to current work in the homeroom curriculum as our young researchers learn to ethically, appropriately and expertly navigate, collect and source the vast amounts of material available on the internet into their projects.   Among the many goals, our research projects seek to avoid a “cut and paste” mentality as we emphasize the importance of critical analysis, proper sourcing and original thought.  We introduce our kids to the power of the Adobe Creative Suite as they learn to gain creative and technical mastery over digital imagery, video, sound and interactivity.  Finally, students will work with robots as they seek to overcome an increasingly complex series of challenges using programming, problem solving and teamwork skills.
Grades 7-8:  The upper school computer experience is a time of exploration, collaboration and discovery.  By creating, collecting and synthesizing an array of original digital content, upper school students are guided to create original digital interactive media using the Adobe suite of programs and video and sound editing applications.  We continue to tie in to the school curriculum as we create interactive maps of anatomical systems, weather cycles, and key scientific concepts.   Robots are used to illustrate the elements of programming, teamwork and problem solving as students seek to guide the machines around a series of complex courses, mazes and gates.  Eight graders learn to sequence digital music and beats in Sequel II as they prepare a final multi-media presentation summing up their journey at St. Luke School.

PROJECT FOCUS: 6th Grade Robotics Unit
In this unit the 6th grade had to program robots to overcome challenges in three areas labeled: “Walk The Plank, Escape The Maze, and Through The Gate.”

Walk the Plank


Two robots face each other on a “T” shaped plank.  The challenge is to get them to change places.  The extra “T” provides a place where one robot can pull into, allowing the other to get by.  Students at this station were challenged to get the timing right and to let one robot trigger the other’s sensor.  Because this challenge involved two programs working together, communicating with the other team was key. 

Escape The Maze

Can a robot get out a simple structure?  Easy if you know exactly where it gets placed.  In this challenge, another member of the class, -not on the programming team- placed the robot in an unexpected position inside the structure.  By using a simple navigation program, the robot was able to feel its way out without bumping into or knocking over any of the walls.

Through The Gate

Hacked from an NXT kit, an automatic gate goes up after it senses a robot in front of it.  The challenge is that the gate had been programmed to go up after counting randomly between 1 and 10 seconds.  Therefore, a simple wait command will not work, as it is unknown exactly when the way will be clear.  Teams of students overcame this challenge by programming the robot to approach the gate, trigger the sensor, back up and use a wait command with the ultrasonic sensor allowing the robot to successfully pass when the gate went up.