As I type this blog, my brain is dead. I played on https://code.org/learn also know as Hour of Code for over an hour. I tried out various grade 5 Science recommendations. The first one I tried was a Food Chain one built with Scratch through Brainpop and i just couldn’t get started. I tried several times to get the parts to work and got frustrated.
The next one I tried was Sea creatures by Code avengers. This one was easier for me to grasp. It had several small step codes to try and gradually built up. I was able to complete each step fairly easily.
Next was Solar System by Tynker. I couldn’t even get past the first step to figure out the next step, so I quit. As you can see, I get frustrated quickly and can see some students doing the same.
The last one I played around on was RoboGarden which uses Blocks. I went on as a teacher and I was able to complete four of the six lessons before I got completely stuck and gave up. I was enjoying it until I got to lesson five. This one had multiple steps and my brain could not figure it out.
After playing around a while, I then began reading some of the articles. I really liked the article Eli Sheldon’s thoughts in “Computational Thinking Across the Curriculum.” In this article Eli states that students “when faced with challenges that are difficult to categorize, students will have a rich toolkit to draw from that crosses traditional subject borders.” I agree with this statement because I feel if students begin coding at a young age, it would make their patience levels and problem solving skills much stronger. There are many students that love gaming and I feel if some of these students could create their own games, it would strengthen some of their problem solving skills as they get older therefore making them better problem solvers in life. The author also states that we need to “Introduce some ambiguity in your projects, link lessons to real-world examples and evidence, and dream big—over time, your students may surprise you with the connections they make and their confidence in diving into new challenges.” I know I am guilty of not letting the reigns go enough because I want them to get to my answer, but through lessening our directions, they will create bigger and better things.
As an educator, I have always struggled with the kids that want to play on the computer all the time, but after reading David Dodge’s article called “So Your Kid Wants to Design Video Games” I can see a benefit. He states “Designing games for others builds cognitive abilities and imagination. Game design teaches valuable skills that can be used in a variety of fields – including software design, UI/UX (user interface / user experience), teamwork, management, and marketing.” I had never looked at it that way, but in our time of increasing technology, he is on point. Kids need to learn to design and create in order to keep up with the technology in our world.
Although I struggled with coding as an adult, I can see the benefit to teaching students how to code as a librarian. It would be a great resource for students as we move further and further into the 21st century. I think I need to practice a lot more, so when I do have my own library I can help move our students in the right direction.
References:
Dodge, D. (2018, May 04). So Your Kid Wants to Design Games? Here are 5 Practical Tips to Help Her Design Like The Pros. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://codakid.com/so-your-kid-wants-to-design-games-here-are-5 practical-tips-to-help-her-design-like-the-pros/
Sheldon, E. (2017, March 30). Computational Thinking Across the Curriculum. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/computational-thinking-across-the-curriculum-eli-sheldon