intro

We are FCS4ALL! Active since 2016, we are a computer science educational outreach program designed to prove that anyone and everyone can code.

FCS4ALL works with third to sixth graders in Baltimore City public schools to build coding intuition and demonstrate the power of even a few lines of code. We teach computer science fundamentals through the lens of plant and food science by using a Food Computer.

After developing our original curriculum for the past year, we are happy to share it as a resource for teachers, after school programs, and community centers to learn from and implement themselves.

As a supplement to the curriculum, we have also built a guide on constructing a low-cost Food Computer that anyone can follow to build their very own personal and programmable greenhouse!

Third grade student looking into Food Computer at a Science Fair
food computer

A Food Computer is a tabletop greenhouse whose living planet is controlled by a computer. Plants are grown in water and sensors are used to track conditions like temperature and humidity. By responding to the sensor information, the Food Computer can adjust its living planet to provide the ideal growing conditions for the plants inside. Food Computers were developed as part of the Open Agriculture Initiative at MIT Media Lab, which is dedicated to developing sustainable food systems.

We can use Food Computers to grow plants in their off-season or outside of their natural habitat, grow them faster and healthier, and grow them in special conditions that evoke specific gene expressions. The most exciting thing about a Food Computer is that anyone can build one and grow plants in their home and community!

Instructions for building a Food Computer are open source by OpenAg but we know this can still be intimidating. As an additional resource, we have written a guide based on our experience building a low-cost Food Computer with limited resources. We have iterated through a couple Food Computer designs and implementations so you can learn from our mistakes!

Download the PDF of our guide here!

Download the PDF of our
guide here!

Update: OpenAg has released a new version of the Food Computer designed specifically for educators and students. Learn more and check out the instructions to build it!

Home-built Food Computer sits on a counter in a science classroom
curriculum

FCS4ALL's curriculum teaches computer science fundamentals with an introduction to plant science and a focus on Food Computer technology. We chose to focus our curriculum around a Food Computer because its use of coding provides a concrete (and edible!) result that students can interact with. Our curriculum uses written and offline group activities to explore the importance of computer programming, concepts of programming languages, and the basic principles of coding. After this conceptual foundation is built, students begin coding on their own. Designed for third to fifth grade students, our curriculum runs for eight weeks and can be used to fit a fifty to seventy minute time period.

We are excited to share our curriculum with anyone who is interested in starting their own computer science program. We have published the entirety of our curriculum complete with instructions on how to teach each class, a list of the materials needed, and preparation guides. We have designed the curriculum so that anyone, regardless of background in teaching or computer science, can implement it in their community. We welcome anyone and everyone to replicate, edit, and expand parts or all of our curriculum!

Download the PDF of our curriculum here!

Download the PDF of our
curriculum here!

Drawing of a flower surrounded by hearts by a fifth grader
about us

Leila and Olivia met each other while studying Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. Neither of them had exposure to programming prior to college and saw an urgent need for universal computer science education. They founded Food Computer / Computer Science 4 All their sophomore year initially as an afterschool program and grew the program to teach several daytime classes. Based in Baltimore City public schools, they have taught third through sixth graders at Barclay Elementary School, Gwynns Falls Elementary School, and Harford Heights Elementary School, reaching over 125 students. The initial funding for FCS4ALL came from Google’s igniteCS program and received continued support from the Irini J Marlouis Award by the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.

We are very excited to share what we have learned over the past couple of years and hope we can support others in teaching the fundamentals of coding and building Food Computers. Please feel free to reach out to us, we especially love talking about computer science education, sustainable food production, and disco!