Course Materials

Start teaching Bootstrap today, and be counted!

Curious about how Bootstrap aligns with the math standards in your area? Our Standards Matrix compares each lesson to a variety of state standards, as well as the new Common Core Standards.

Fill out our online form and we'll make sure to keep you updated on curricular changes, Bootstrap events, etc.

(Looking for the older, Spring 2011 version?)

• Student Workbook [PDF | OpenOffice] - The lesson plans linked below are tightly integrated into the Student Workbook, which should be used with the curriculum. A Teacher's Edition is also available [PDF | OpenOffice], with answers filled out.
• Unit 1 [html | pdf] - students break down a simple videogame into its component parts, and explore how cartesian coordinates play a role in animation. They then brainstorm their own videogames, and are introduced to the basics of numerical Racket expressions.
• Unit 2 [html | pdf] - students deepen their understanding of expressions, generalizing across strings and images. They are also introduced to the algebraic concepts of Domain, Range and function composition.
• Unit 3 [html | pdf] - students begin to define functions of their own, and create screenshots of their own videogames.
• Unit 4 [html | pdf] - students begin to define functions of their own, using the Design Recipe.
• Unit 5 [html | pdf] - students combine their understanding of function definitions with their videogame screenshots, this time writing functions to animate their game characters by producing new coordinates.
• Unit 6 [html | pdf] - students encounter the concepts of inequality and boolean logic, and write functions that keep a butterfly from flying outside of a box defined by four coordinates. This same code is then used in their own games to keep characters on the screen.
• Unit 7 [html | pdf] - students discover partial functions, and must define them over various domains. They begin by writing code for a pizza place, then practice over images until finally writing code that maps keypresses to changes in game coordinates.
• Unit 8 [html | pdf] - students must use function composition and boolean logic to determine whether two characters have collided. Along the way, they must prove the pythagorean theorem and then turn their proof into real code.
• Unit 9 [html | pdf] - students complete their games, and design creative posters to advertise their creations. They practice public speaking, presenting their games and posters to each other and walking through their code.
• Supplemental Lessons [html | pdf] - for teachers looking for additional exercises, we have compiled many activities for students to go deeper into the material. Have students use composition and coordinates to create flags for their countries of origin, or for a country they want to make up! Have them use randomness and trigonometric functions for more sophisticated motion, or introduce data structures for more sophisticated games!
• Teacher's Guide [html | pdf] are also available for teachers who'd like a "quick start" reference to all the various functionality in the Game Template.

A .zip archive of the Fall 2011 Curriculum is also available for download.

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BETA: Announcing Bootstrap 2!

It takes time to develop a a curriculum, and Bootstrap 1 is the result of more than 5 years of work. We are in the process of finalizing a followup curriculum, for graduates of Bootstrap 1, which is being tested during our summer programs by our core staff. This curriculum covers data structures and event-driven programming, allowing students to make vastly more complex and variable games. The later lessons are less well-defined, since the variety of programs completed by then makes it impossible to design specific lessons around them. At that point, the lessons are 99% individual programming.

Anyone who is familiar with both World-style programming and who has taught Bootstrap 1 will find the beta version of this curriculum quite usable, but it's not quite ready for novices to pick up and use with their students. If you'd like to take a look at the materials, they are all available for download as a .zip archive.

Please bear in mind that these materials are provided without support! They may contain spelling errors, bugs, or other gremlins!

Programming environment

Bootstrap uses WeScheme, a cloud-based IDE that requires no downloading or installation. Anyone with a Gmail account can start developing with WeScheme, storing and retrieving files from the cloud and doing all of their editing in a modern browser. Additionally, WeScheme programs can be shared simply by sending out a link, or posting it to sites such as Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc.

Don't have access to a stable internet connection? Bootstrap also supports DrRacket, a multi-platform graphical environment. DrRacket runs on all major platforms (Windows, OS X, Unix/Linux) and programs written for one platform run seamlessly on the others, supporting a wide variety of classroom and home computing scenarios. Its emphasis on beginner-friendly features and support for images makes it ideal for Bootstrap.

Textbooks

If you've completed the Bootstrap curriculum, you'll be happy to know that your skills transfer up! The curriculum ties into the more-advanced Program by Design curriculum, which uses the How to Design Programs textbook. A draft textbook that is closer to the animation-driven style of Bootstrap (but more advanced in content) is also available.

Wear It

You've got the curriculum, but do you own the t-shirt?

Show the world your support for Bootstrap, and let people know that yes, "I Program My Own Videogames". All t-shirts are high-quality cotton, available in sizes ranging from S to XXL, for a price of $15 each for orders of 1-5 shirts or $10 for larger orders (cost includes shipping). Contact us to place an order.

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