This week, we explored coding and the importance of teaching students how to use computational thinking. Below is a screenshot from one of the games I played to learn how to code. It was so much fun!
In class, we watched a video that represents the importance of computational thinking. The video showed two children writing instructions for their dad on how to make a peanut butter and jam sandwich. It sounds simple enough, but the kids shortly realized that they needed to include a lot more detail than they originally thought! The video was really funny to watch, and it just emphasizes how important computational thinking is. You need to think through every step in order to make something accessible and understandable for a wide audience. You can watch the video below. I can definitely see myself doing an activity like this in class to teach them about descriptive writing, problem solving, and computational thinking!
I think that coding and computational thinking are essential skills for children to learn in school. Technology is becoming more and more important in our day-to-day lives, and students most likely need to learn these skills in order to be successful once they are out of school. Specifically for STEM careers, these skills are really important.
I am originally from Ontario, and just heard that the Ministry of Education is updating the Ontario curriculum to be more STEM focused. I think this is a great step forward for the Ontario education system.
In class, we were given the challenge of trying out coding for ourselves. I had never really done much coding before, other than using a computer software called Alice, which I had a lot of trouble with in high school. Today, we used the games on the Hour of Code website to learn a basic version of coding. I found this really exciting, because ever since I heard Hans talking about Scratch during our EdCamp session, I have been really interested in learning more.
I picked a game called Dance Party, and it was so much fun. I can see why kids would love this game, because they have full control over what animals they use and what dance moves their animals dance to. Below is a screenshot of my final code that I ended up with.
Overall, I found this basic version of coding to be pretty user friendly, but I can see the challenges that coding might pose. I like to think that I am fairly tech-savvy, but I know that some people would probably have a lot of trouble following these instructions. I also know that without the instructions, and without the filtered options of operations available to me, I would have no idea where to begin. I think that creating a code from scratch is a lot more complicated than these games are, which is important to remember.
Even when I was using the Dance Party game to create my dancing animals, I had some issues with what I thought I was creating versus what the animals actually ended up doing. As you can see in the screenshot below, I had some issues with the bears. The animals were all in different spots than I thought they would be in, and it just looked nothing like I thought it would when I ran the program. I think that creating a game from scratch would take a lot of trial and error, and I can see myself becoming frustrated if I see a small mistake in the game part, but cannot find the mistake in my actual written code.
I do think that the Hour of Code website is a great place for anyone of all ages to start learning how to code, and I really want to keep on trying to learn more about programming! Below is the link to my final game that I made in Dance Party. Use the up and down arrows to make the animals at the front dance!
https://studio.code.org/projects/dance/MjNoSCy6qyuxxBafd1bAMcxgAepSwiyTZrZkEEdMrzM