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A-Mazing Robot
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This activity lets you program your 'robot' (a willing friend) to pick up and dispose of some 'toxic waste' using as few commands as possible.

Public Key Encryption: Kid Krypto
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In this activity, learners conduct a simulation exercise related to public key encryption and try to intercept a message sent between two learners.

Battleships: Searching Algorithms
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This activity explores the main algorithms that are used as the basis for searching on computers, using different variations on the game of battleships.

Tiny Particles, Big Trouble!
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In this activity, learners discover why some nanoscale science and technology is done in the controlled environment of a clean room, what clean rooms are like, and how scientists help keep the clean r

The Poor Cartographer: Graph Coloring
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In this activity, learners help a poor cartographer color in the countries on a map, making sure each country is colored a different color than any of its neighbors.

Pico Cricket Compass
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Learners can program a compass to draw a circle by itself using a Pico Cricket, some Legos, and lots of tape! Pico Cricket is required.

The Muddy City: Minimal Spanning Trees
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In this puzzle, learners investigate the decisions involved in linking a network between houses in a muddy city.

Clap Sensor: Build a Sound Sensor Using a Pico Cricket
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This activity requires a Pico Cricket (tiny computer). Learners work on designing and building a sound sensor out of household materials, like plastic wrap and cardboard.

Human Interface Design: The Chocolate Factory
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In this activity about human interface design issues, learners help the Oompa-Loompas of a great chocolate factory solve different problems.

Phylogenetics
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This activity lets learners participate in the process of reconstructing a phylogenetic tree and introduces them to several core bioinformatics concepts, particularly in relation to evolution.

Divide and Conquer: Santa's Dirty Socks
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This activity introduces the idea of "divide and conquer" using a fictitious but serious problem--a pair of dirty socks has accidentally been wrapped in one of the presents that Santa is about to deli

Artificial Intelligence: The Intelligent Piece of Paper
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This activity explores what it means for a computer to be intelligent and introduces the topic of what a computer program is and how everything computers do simply involves following instructions writ

Ice Roads: Steiner Trees
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In this outdoor activity, learners use pegs (like tent pegs) and string or elastic to simulate drill sites and roads in Northern Canada.

Photolithography
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In this activity, learners use UV light to transfer a pattern onto a plastic board. The pattern is transferred by placing a mask (a transparency sheet with the pattern) on a plastic board.

Cryptographic Protocols: The Peruvian Coin Flip
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This activity about cryptographic techniques illustrates how to accomplish a simple, but nevertheless seemingly impossible task—making a fair, random choice by flipping a coin between two people who d

The Turing Test: Conversations with Computers
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This activity aims to stimulate discussion on the question of whether computers can exhibit “intelligence,” or are ever likely to do so in the future.

Information Hiding: Sharing Secrets
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This activity about cryptographic techniques illustrates a situation where information is shared, and yet none of it is revealed.

Pico Cricket (Tiny Computer) Activity Ideas
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This is a web page that helps informal educators brainstorm on how to use a Pico Cricket (tiny computer) in an informal activity.

Tourist Town: Dominating Sets
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In this activity, learners use a fictitious map of "Tourist Town" and counters to problem solve how to place ice-cream vans on street intersections so that every other intersection is connected to one

Sound Representation: Modems Unplugged
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In this activity, learners listen to songs and decode hidden messages based on the same principle as a modem. As a final challenge, learners decode the binary messages in a music video.