A class of third-graders are given six Lego pieces. They have to make a duck out of it. The duck could be sitting, swimming or flying. But, no duck should look the same.
This is how the third-graders at Indian Mounds Elementary School in Bloomington started their first day of computer science lessons.
They then went on to dismantle the ducks and were asked to create anything that is not a duck: a test for imagination, flexibility and creativity, and that your solution doesn’t have to look like others’.
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The students made polar bears, birds, dragons and even angel dogs (a dog, but with wings).
“Legos are a great way to think about computer science, and you can get really creative with them,” said computer science teacher Lee Nelson. “It’s a great way to get the creative juices flowing.”
Indian Mounds, part of Bloomington Public Schools, is a computer science immersion school, meaning K-5 students not only take dedicated computer science classes every week, but are encouraged to incorporate computer science lessons and skills into other subjects, too. A second Bloomington school, Poplar Bridge Elementary, also has a computer science immersion program.
Students at these schools learn computer science not only on computers, but also unplugged, that is, using their hands to get a sense of how the gadgets they use on a daily basis work.
The program, which was started in 2019, aims to prepare students not just to enter the computer science field, but also boost their problem-solving abilities, logic and creativity. That means, not only can their Lego ducks look different, they should.
The program is neither designed just for future computer scientists nor does it exclusively attract such students, the school administrators say. “It’s more of a way of thinking than it is a set of specific skill sets,” said Nelson. “Like, ‘Do you understand how a machine gets directions from a human and then follows those directions?’, through a series of lessons that progressively get more interesting and more challenging through the grades.”
At the school, computer science immersion is designed to complement the standard Bloomington curriculum. Teachers still cover the same lessons taught across the district, but they also identify opportunities to enhance instruction by weaving in computer science.
The goal, administrators said, is to make lessons more engaging and impactful for students while still meeting state standards.
Here’s an example of what that looks like at Indian Mounds: Third-graders combine their social studies lessons on Native American history and contemporary life with computer science instruction. As part of the project, students prepared what they had learned and translated it into an interactive map of Minnesota. Different parts of the map were wired to connect with a programming platform called Scratch, where students uploaded photos or recorded their own voices to share information. The result was a digital map that blended storytelling with technology, allowing students to present both historical and present-day perspectives on Native Americans in a hands-on, engaging way.
Alexandra Holter, computer science program coordinator at Bloomington Public Schools says this helps students build confidence not just in CS, but also other subjects. “When we learn in silos, it’s hard to see the real world relevance of [what they’re learning]. In education, sometimes we get stuck in these antiquated ways and do these kinds of things that have just been done, and CS allows students to demonstrate what they know in unique and creative ways,” she said.
Jack Ell, third-grader at Indian Mounds, is “mad about computer science,” said his mother Angie Hendrickson. Ell said he wants to be a video game developer when he grows up, and he is already on his way.
“For Christmas, he’s asking for circuit boards and coding games. He’s already developing his own servers on Roblox”an online game creation platform “and doing all sorts of things like that,” said Hendrickson. She added that Indian Mounds was the “logical option” for Ell “to be ahead of the game when it came to computers and technology.”
With 32% English language learners, Holter said that the approach to teaching computer science had to be one that doesn’t rely on English for instruction. Educators like Nelson use visual cues and even hand and body movements to explain and illustrate certain lessons.
Holter said Bloomington schools are trying to prepare students for growing tech opportunities, while also addressing stark demographic gaps in the industry, which remains dominated by white men.
“It was a very intentional equity move, that we want to bring this to all students so that they can take advantage of the tremendous opportunity that the field provides. One of our goals, especially in the elementary and middle school space, is really building that sense of identity and belonging in CS and tech so that students feel like they belong as they go out into the world and have to encounter spaces where they may be the only one that looks like them.”
