This week we had the choice to do either an hour of coding or an hour of 3-D Printing. I choose to code because hearing the word coding made me really nervous and I wanted to go out of my comfort zone. I went to Hour of Code and the first game I tried was called Dragons Apprentice which is for grades 6 and up, and it looked like a video game. I spent the first 15 min getting frustrated because I didn’t fully understand what to do. It gave me the “press these to move, this to attack, and this to hack” but that was about it. I was then dropped into a room and I just went “ok…what do I do?”. Once I figured it out I played for about 10 min and when I clicked to go to the next chapter something went wrong and I got an error. I decided to go back to the home page a pick out a different game for the next 30 min to see if I would have better luck. I decided on one for grades 2 and up called Moana: Wayfinding with Code which is a game that Disney actually made. I really enjoyed playing it not only because it was Disney but it also explained everything! As the player goes through each chapter, a video pops up explaining what coding is, how Disney uses coding, and how to build with coding. I stopped after the hour was up but I really want to finish it. \
Not gonna lie, when I first saw what the assignment was I was very confused about how something like coding would go with librarianship. I understood 3-D printing since I have been seeing 3-D printers in the makerspaces that libraries have, but why codes? As Mary Moen (2016) pointed out, “computer coding helps develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and these are at the core of our professional mission: to help people understand how to solve problems using information effectively, which are skills that support people as lifelong learners”. An example of this in the library is that lots of schools are doing after-school activities such as Robot Club in the library. In the ALA article (n.d), Claudia Haines talks about coding “involves identifying problems, breaking apart or decomposing the problem into smaller parts, finding patterns, and designing solutions”. These aspects are done when telling a story and can be used in the classroom when teaching about creating a story.
It seems like sometimes we do coding in day-to-day life and do not even realize it.
Reference
ALA. (n.d.). How computational thinking fits within library services. Libraries Ready to Code. https://www.ala.org/tools/readytocode/how-computational-thinking-fits-within-library-services
Moen, M. (2016, September 30). Computer coding and literacy: Librarians lead the connection. International Literacy Association. https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2016/09/30/computer-coding-and-literacy-librarians-lead-the-connection
July 25, 2022 at 4:17 am
Sarah, I was thinking the same things as you! I thought libraries and computers would be much more different. But then consider what we do to help people use library systems and catalogs – it’s problem-solving. And following Dewey is like following a code!
Good points!
Karen
August 1, 2022 at 9:37 am
I also had the same thought as you as to how coding relates with Librarianship at all. I have always “despised” coding or computer science-related things but having a chance to practicing coding even in an easy level was very interesting. Felt like my brain was trying to work it through!