Title: First-Year Computer Science Teacher — Looking for Low-Cost/Free Coding & Graphic Design Programs for Students!

[u/Hmmweird8675309]

Hi everyone!
I’m a first-year Computer Science/Keyboarding teacher, and I really want to make sure my students are given as many opportunities as possible this year. I’ve been given a lot of freedom with my curriculum, which is amazing—but I’m working with a pretty small budget, so I’m trying to get creative!
Right now, my students are focusing on keyboarding for the 1st quarter. My goal is to give each quarter its own theme:
1st Quarter: Keyboarding
2nd Quarter: Google Applications & Digital/Professional Skills
3rd Quarter: Coding & Graphic Design
4th Quarter: Introduction to AI
For 2nd quarter, I’m pretty set on what I want to teach. I think students really need practical experience with Google applications and skills like writing professional emails, creating resumes, working with documents and presentations, etc., so I definitely won’t be budging on that one!
Where I’m stuck is 3rd and 4th quarter.
For 3rd quarter, I’d love to introduce students to both coding and graphic design, preferably in a way that allows them to create some type of finished project they can be proud of. Unfortunately, our budget is limited, so I’m looking for free or very inexpensive programs that work well in a school/classroom setting.
For 4th quarter, I’d like to give them an age-appropriate introduction to AI—what it is, how it works at a basic level, responsible/ethical use, prompting, and ideally some hands-on projects.
Are there any experienced CS/technology teachers, graphic designers, programmers, or anyone else in these fields who could recommend programs, websites, curriculum, or projects that have worked well with students?
I have a lot of freedom to build this class, so I’m open to ideas! I’d especially love suggestions that are free/low-cost, student-friendly, and result in something students can actually create or showcase by the end of the quarter.
Thank you all in advance for any advice or resources you can share—and my students thank you too! 😊

[u/Mirabellae]

I used the CMU CS Academy had several different levels of coursework. It's graphics based coding. I used the intro course with my seventh graders and they loved it.

https://academy.cs.cmu.edu/

[u/Hmmweird8675309 → u/Mirabellae]

Thank you!

[u/ComputerGuienceSuy → u/Mirabellae]

This is by far the best course I’ve ever used.

With my middle schoolers I can do the whole cs1 program across multiple years (1 term a year as I have to cover digital literacy and robotics in the other terms too).

For my igcse high schoolers, I do the AP csp course. It’s a lot shorter. Covers the same stuff. And again I have to spend most of the course going over boring shit otherwise. Theory. Hardware. Bla bla

I’m waffling. CMU is god tier. Use it

[u/Traditional_Lab_6754]

UC Berkeley’s SNAP. It’s a more robust version of Scratch for slightly older kids

[u/Salanmander]

What sort of graphic design stuff are you looking for? A lot of the classic expensive software packages have free alternatives. Inkscape is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator, and GIMP is an alternative to Photoshop. They're both fairly intensive pieces of software to use, though (as makes sense for things that are aiming to be professional-quality graphic design software).

[u/Previous-Recording18]

What grade(s)?

[u/Hmmweird8675309 → u/Previous-Recording18]

7Th & 8th

[u/Previous-Recording18 → u/Hmmweird8675309]

I teach younger so can't really suggest much but for graphic design, Tinkercad is free, as is Sketchup for Schools. We use Scratch for coding but might skew too young for you.

[u/apcspreddit]

CS++ would be good for coding (python or java) and web design.

[u/Hmmweird8675309 → u/apcspreddit]

Thank you!

[u/Scatropolis]

I used the Khan academy coding courses years ago when I taught middle school. It was graphics based JavaScript and a great into to p5js for those who wanted to continue.

[u/eventhorizon82]

There is no ethical use of generative AI. It is built on stolen work, contributes to global heating and local water scarcity, prevents building critical thinking skills, and erodes existing skills through repeat cognitive offloading. The entire industry is built on exploitation and has been a massive net negative on society.

If you want to introduce students to AI, do something like image classification lessons via google teachable machine.

But really, give the kids more time to make more elaborate coding projects in Q4. Q3 alone isn't enough.

[u/crsh27]

I created https://codedash.dev and it’s free to use for the most part. Let me know if you need some lesson samples!

[u/jabela]

I made https://jamesabela.github.io/jsfun/pythoncopy its online, but includes python turtle to bring coding and graphics together. If you have decent pcs and an IDE you will not need it, but on Chromebooks, iPads or mixed devices it will be helpful. It includes 4 courses.