I have decided to go with coding for an hour as I thought this would be a better learning experiment for me to have. There were many different activities that I could choose from, but for someone like me who has no knowledge about coding, I decided to easy and picked the ‘Dance Party’ for Grades 2+. When I clicked on it, a video of a tutorial on how to code showed up. The coding goes step-by-step and doesn’t just leave you out in the open not knowing what to do. Considering that this is geared towards the younger audience, I understood the tedious tutorials. There’s also a hint button for when you get lost and what to do. There are a total of 10 steps to complete the whole coding process. I love music but had no idea coding had anything to do with it. This took me about 30 minutes leaving me a bit more time to explore other activities. Here is a link to the coding that I have made!
https://studio.code.org/projects/dance/L22H6kHCM7fE9X8Z04-pwL38SPO0u4VLnQcH8xlsJSM
The next activity I chose was for a higher level called ‘Hack a game’. Immediately when getting started, I saw the difference in difficulty and wordiness of the coding compared to the first activity I tried out. It still had instructions on how to go through which didn’t make me feel overwhelmed. Here is a picture of what I went through.
During each step, you would get a mini-quiz-like question where you can choose answers based on the skill you have used in coding. I thought that was a great way for students to understand and go over on what they have learned. The bottom picture indicates the quiz I went through.
After a few steps, my hour was up and I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing. But it definitely taught me some things in an easy way for me to follow. Technology has been infused into our daily lives without even us realizing it. Code.org (2018) states, “But across all computers, regardless of the different types of technology they use, they’re always doing those same four things. They take in information, they store it as data, they process it, and then they output the results”. By simply knowing this fact, I can even use that definition to the students or whatever audience I may be talking to regarding coding. I definitely do not have much knowledge in coding and technology in general, so looking over these kinds of topics would help me ready myself up when I have to teach them! I also look at technology as an opportunity for students. Libraries Read to Code (2018) states, “Library staff can embed CT in addition to traditional literacy in their work with children and teens; empowering them with the literacies they need to be lifelong learners and to succeed in college and career”. The article states that Computational Thinking doesn’t always limit to coding and computer programming. Coding isn’t for everyone but at least once in their life, they will need to go through it. Students take in information, store that as data, process it, and then they output their results in whatever form they prefer.
References
Code.org. (2018, January 30). How Computers Work: What Makes a Computer, a Computer? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCq8-xTH7jA&t=15s
Libraries Ready to Code. (2018, November 26). How Computational Thinking Fits Within Library Services. http://www.ala.org/tools/readytocode/how-computational-thinking-fits-within-library-services
July 26, 2022 at 1:43 am
The dancing moose is so cute! I’m a little jealous. My 3D printing results weren’t nearly as cool. Excellent work!
July 27, 2022 at 9:58 pm
I didn’t think about coding with music. I may have to look into it more. I did the reverse and started off with a grade 6+ game, after 20 min stopped because i got confused and frustrated, and then finished the hour playing a Disney coding game for grade 2+. I actually liked it better because it also had mini videos talking about coding and what it is used for. The image you showed of your harder code game gave me a headache haha
July 28, 2022 at 1:06 am
The Dance Party seems simple but yet so fun! Wow, Hack a Game did seem to be significantly more difficult than the Dance Party activity. I am sure it takes a lot of practice to be that advanced at coding.