Only a Laptop with internet is required to enroll
ZAS Academy learning path grouped by age levels ...
In the initial phase of our Primary Coding program, students embark on an exciting coding journey using platforms like Trinket, where a playful turtle responds to their Python commands. Children unleash their creativity by making the turtle run, creating vibrant geometric shapes, colorful patterns, bursting bubbles, crazy clocks, and even participating in turtle races. Carefully curated creative tasks at this level challenge students to think critically, encouraging them to plan step-by-step strategies for finding solutions.
As students progress to the second phase of our Primary Coding curriculum, they make a seamless transition to a mix of visual representation platforms like Trinket and text-based coding, utilizing tools like Google Colab. Challenges are meticulously designed to enhance their thinking, guiding them towards logical solutions and building a solid foundation for more advanced coding concepts.
In the concluding phase of our year-long Primary Coding curriculum, students delve into advanced coding concepts, tackling strategically designed tasks to enhance their skills and foster confidence. The curriculum's goal is to shape students' coding mindset, refining their algorithmic and computational thinking through creative challenges. This marks the completion of their primary coding journey, equipping them with both technical skills and the mindset needed for advanced coding endeavors.
In each class, we do several carefully crafted tasks to reinforce the coding concepts taught.
After 10 classes, students will have a strong coding foundation and will move on to secondary curriculm.
| Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to 'trinket' turtle interactive environment |
| 2 | Drawing basic geometric shapes |
| 3 | Using 'for loop' for repetetive tasks |
| 4 | Print statement and variables |
| 5 | User keyboard inputs |
| 6 | Mathematical operations |
| 7 | Conditional statements (if-else) |
| 8 | Lists and 'random' function |
| 9 | 'While' loops |
| 10 | Recap and summary |
The Secondary Coding curriculum is meticulously crafted to cultivate children's computational thinking, ensuring a seamless transition to the pinnacle of their coding potential.
In the initial phase of the Secondary Coding program, children delve into Python coding using Google Colab, tackling around fifty plus challenges of gradually increasing complexity. This foundational stage equips them with essential coding concepts, including print statements, input handling, if-else conditions, for loops, while loops etc..
Advancing to the second stage, students explore more sophisticated coding concepts such as lists, functions, strings, slicing, functions and dictionaries. They elevate their coding skills by solving advanced challenges in the form of algorithms, laying the groundwork for complex problem-solving. Students solve atleast fifty plus challenges which are carefully designed to master the coding concepts nurture their computational thinking.
In the final stage of the annual Secondary Coding curriculum, children are introduced to advanced coding topics like search algorithms, sorting algorithms, comprehensions, advanced data structures, and two-dimensional lists. We encourage children to solve our own set of challenges as well as challenges from UKCT. As part of our commitment to fostering well-rounded coders, students are encouraged to participate in competitive coding challenges such as the Perse Coding Challenge, Oxford University Coding Challenge, and the British Informatics Olympiad (BIO). This comprehensive journey ensures that students not only master advanced coding concepts but also thrive in competitive coding environments.
In 1st term we formally introduce the Python basics and will solve Level-1 competitive questions
In 2nd and 3rd terms, we further strengthen the Python skills and solve Level-2, 3 & 4 competitive questions.
| Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to Python Programming, Print and mathematical operators |
| 2 | Data types and variables |
| 3 | Input function and conditional statements |
| 4 | String functions and conditional statements |
| 5 | Range function and repetitive/loop statements |
| 6 | String functions - slicing and indexing |
| 7 | Deep dive into repetitve statements |
| 8 | Deep dive into String functions |
| 9 | Lists and dictionaries |
| 10 | Deep dive into lists and dictionaries |
| Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 | Deep dive into String functions and problem-solving |
| 2 | Deep dive into List functions and problem-solving |
| 3 | Deep dive into List functions and problem-solving |
| 4 | Deep dive into List functions and problem-solving |
| 5 | Deep dive into keyboard input & data conversion functions and problem-solving |
| 6 | Deep dive into repetitive statements and problem-solving |
| 7 | Deep dive into repetitive statements and problem-solving |
| 8 | Deep dive into syntax errors and exceptions |
| 9 | Deep dive into functions and problem-solving |
| 10 | Deep dive into functions and problem-solving |
| Lesson | Topic |
|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | We further dwelve deep into mastering the algorithmic thinking through 50 challenges, encompassing the Perce Coding Team Challenge (PCTC), Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC), and the Canadian Coding Challenge (CCC). |
We prepare the students for higher levels of competitive coding (PCTC, OUCC and CCC), where we solve past exam questions.
We firmly believe that, after terms 4-6, students would have built strong critical thinking and algorithmic design skills. These skills are essential for coding interviews at tech ginats: Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, netflix, Twitter, Tesla and many more.
This is the ideal opportunity where children explore how to bring coding to life, literally, and witness the wonders unfold from the laptop to the physical world.
In the initial stage of our Primary Robotics program, young enthusiasts dive into technology with the BBC Microbit, programming it to display personalized messages and create intricate patterns. They explore the Microbit's onboard sensors, leading to the creation of diverse games and mastery of fundamental electronics concepts. Connecting electronic elements, they craft narratives and dynamic robotic creations, bringing their coding skills to life.
Advancing to the intermediate stage, students integrate additional sensors into their projects, exploring advanced electronic components and engaging in crafting robotic systems for real-world applications. The use of DC motors, servo motors, NeoPixel rings, and OLED displays enhances their understanding and application of robotics principles.
In the final stage, students push their knowledge boundaries, creating a smart car with intelligent sensors, showcasing their coding prowess, electronic understanding, and robotics principles. This culmination of their Primary Robotics journey empowers them to face complex challenges with confidence and innovation, completing their education with a solid foundation in robotics.
Children will be mainly working with BBC microbit.
At the end of the term-1, students would have firm foundation on sensors, its wiring and using micro controller to complete a given task.
| Lesson | Topic | Achivement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to basic electronic circuits | Unerstanding of basic electronic circuits |
| 2 | Introduction to BBC Microbit | Display various patterns on the LED matrix |
| 3 | Temperature sensor | Temperature monitoring system design |
| 4 | Light sensor | Light monitoring system design |
| 5 | Motion sensor | Making our own games like rock, paper & scissors |
| 6 | Touch sensor | Making our own safety locker system |
| 7 | Speaker | Creating our own music tunes |
| 8 | BBC Microbit adaptor | Connecting external electronic components like LEDs, buzzer to Microbit |
| 9 | Programming external electronic components connected to adaptor | Traffic light system design |
| 10 | Programming external electronic components connected to adaptor | Traffic light system design |
This presents a remarkable opportunity for children to translate their coding skills into the physical world, unleashing their creativity to solve real-life problems. The curriculum is meticulously designed, introducing them to the fundamental building blocks essential for creating complex robotic systems.
In our Secondary Robotic Curriculum, children kick off with the Arduino microcontroller as the central hub for their projects, gaining a foundational understanding of basic electronics circuits. They delve into a diverse range of sensors, including touch, infrared, light, sound, pollution, temperature, and ultrasonic sensors. Progressing further, they create small robotic systems by integrating these sensors with Arduino, producing innovative solutions to everyday challenges.
Transitioning to the second stage, children encounter additional electronic components like DC motors, servo motors, switches, neopixel rings, OLED and LCD displays and joysticks. The focus shifts to communication technologies, exploring methods to control and monitor sensors through infrared, Bluetooth, and radio communication technologies.
In the final stage of the Secondary Robotic curriculum, students embark on creating more complex robotic systems, including the development of a smart car from scratch. Leveraging their knowledge of sensors, motors, and communication technologies, they engineer an intelligent car capable of avoiding obstructions, following lanes, detecting edges, assessing road conditions, and even operating as a self-driving car. The curriculum also integrates robotics knowledge with core Physics experiments related to kinematics, electricity, waves, and electromagnetics. Furthermore, students are encouraged to participate in national and international competitions such as the New York Academy of Science, Conrad Challenge, Hackathons, Codefests, or pursue individual research projects.
Students would be working with one of the Micro Controller: Arduino, ESP32 or Raspberry PI.
At the end of the 3rd term, children would have all essential elements of Robotic System: Robotic Controller, Sensors, Electronic Circuits & Communication, Sensors and Kinematics.
At the end of the 3rd term, students would have built from scratch, a fully functional robotic car that can be controlled in ways: Infrared, Radio Frequency, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Gyro and Self Navigating Obstacle Avoidance.
| Lesson | Topic | Achievement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to basic electronic circuits | Making small electronic circuits using battery, LED, buzzer and breadboard |
| 2 | Introduction to Microcontroller | Programming Microcontroller digital GPIO pins |
| 3 | Connecting LEDs, buzzers to Microcontroller | Traffic light system design |
| 4 | Touch sensor | Our own treasure chest secure system design |
| 5 | Servo motor | Gate control system using servo motor and touch sensor |
| 6 | OLED Display | Programmig OLED to display various messages |
| 7 | Pollution sensor | Monitoring polllution in the surrounding areas and displaying in OLED |
| 8 | Ultrasonic sensor | Working of ultrasonic sensor |
| 9 | DHT11 sensor | Monitoring temperature and humidity of the surrounding area |
| 10 | Final Project | Design of our own local weather monitoring station OR Design of our own smart water irrigation system |
| Lesson | Topic | Achievement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to various communication technologies | Knowledge of various communication modes |
| 2 | Joystick control | Control multiple LEDs using joystick |
| 3 | Bluetooth control | Using smart phone's bluetooth to control LEDs and motots |
| 4 | RF control | Using RF technology to control LEDs and servo motor |
| 5 | IR control | Using IR remote to control various electronic components |
| 6 | DC Motor | DC Motor speed control with pulse width modulation |
| 7 | Motor driver | Control DC motors using motor drivers |
| 8 | Project work | Robot car assembly |
| 9 | Project work | Robot car electronic circuit wiring and unit testing |
| 10 | Project work | Robot car electronic circuit wiring and unit testing |
| Lesson | Topic | Achievement |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Controlling the car using ultrasonic sensors | Making the car completely self navigationg and obstruction avoidance |
| 4-5 | Controlling the car using IR | Controlling the car using IR remote |
| 5-6 | Controlling the car using Bluetooth | Controlling the car using Bluetooth and mobile app |
| 6-8 | Controlling the car using line sensors | Making the car completely self navigationg following a line |
| 9-10 | Controlling the car using RF controller | Controlling the car using the long range RF control module |
We tackle topics like: Computer Vision and Neural Networks (AI) for robotics
We take hands-on project based approach for robotic system design and build.
Some of our past students have developed AI driven autonomous car, LIDAR based autonomous car, Computer vision based robotic arms.
We firmly believe, the skills gained in Robotics during the terms 4-6 are good candidates to showcase them in the University application form and also the research.
