3rd grade exploring technology, is the place for students who love tech. Students will develop collaboration and communication skills through hands-on coding, robotics and engineering projects. Students will be introduced to the engineering design process and use it to solve problems in teams. Students will work with VEX GO robotics and other platforms. 3rd Exploring Tech is the first in a series of technology electives at Vista.

In this elective course, students will explore many different components of technology. This hands on STEM class will introduce students to circuits, coding, robotics and more. Students will integrate basic code with robotic platforms such as sphero, drones, Lego EV3, and VEX IQ. Students will learn to collaborate with others to implement science principles such as simple machines to solve problems using snap together robotic components. Students will gain a basic understanding of the engineering design process as they create and build various projects. This course is intended as an introduction and jump start to Vista’s 3D engineering, coding, and robotics classes offered to 6th-8th grade students.

An introduction to 3D design, 3D Printing, Coding, Robotics and Engineering. This course will cover all 4 areas and give students a basic understanding with hands on experience. 4 sections will be split up between two classes and two teachers. Students will rotate half way into the year to the other section.Creative Coding-Robotics is an introductory course intended for students to explore the art of coding. With the growing demand for computer programmers, coding is an exciting career to explore. Aligned with national computer science standards, this course will introduce students to coding terms and elements. Students will learn basics of computer processes and functions while working on coding projects such as using the code on electronic boards and robots. Students will also learn basic coding including order of operations, rules and basic commands of mostly HTML and Python. Students will be engaged in various languages including scratch, html/css, and python. This is a fun, fast paced course where student creativity is encouraged with every project. Students who have any interest in computers or coding are encouraged to take this course!3D-Engineering – Students will learn to engineer and design a basic 3D model, and then print it on a 3D printer. The 3D models can be used in a variety of ways. The class will focus on parts for Robotics and Engineering. Class projects will be incorporated as the class brings the 3D-Design, Printing and Coding into real life application.

This course is designed to extend what is taught in intro to creative coding to the physical world of electronics and robotics. This lab-style class is where students will explore the application of various programming languages to see how they are used in the world around us. Students gain a deeper understanding of coding and programming languages. Students will also learn basic electrical concepts in order to build circuits to make LED lights flash and motors turn extra. Students will be engaged through various platforms including Arduino and Raspberry Pi computers. Students will explore the application of robotics in industry and program robots to perform various tasks. This course is a prerequisite to Robotics II.