European Code Week has just been running for two weeks and it ends today. It is of essence that we come aware of coding and the benefits of working with code through concepts like Code Week I think. Code Week makes us teachers loosen up around coding, takes the edge of it, makes it easier for us to see how we can fit coding in our daily work in different subjects. To me coding is important to all students most of all a because there is a democratic aspect to it. Coding teaches students that you can create yourself on the internet and not only be a consumer of what others created. This is a way of making yourself heard and understood. Coding is also important when it comes to understand that what happens on the internet is not magic but it is all man made and that someone could actually control me through the internet - like Facebook.
Now that CodeWeek is over I think that it is important to continue working with coding but maybe it is not all that easy to figure out what to do next. Therefor I want to give you a few websites to choose from and keep for future use. It is important that we have clear goals when we are working with code, that we use coding in our cross-curricular work to tie it all together and also tie the informal learning that our students experience every day with our formal learning.
First of all; do you know that Scratch is working on Scratch 3.0 which will suceed Scratch 2.0? It wll be released in the first few months of 2018 - keep your eyes open for it! Did you also know that in the first prototype Scratch 3.0 worked with LEGO WeDo? Did you think this was all? No, it isn't. At the same time Scratch will also make Scratch Junior available on the web - meaning we can all use it on our laptops, Macs and Chromebooks! Yeah!!
Scratch Wiki
Are you working with LEGO Mindstorms in your school but finding it hard to find the time to build the robots? Here is a webpage that gives you easy to build robots instructions ,but also instructions in how to program them. I qoute the boy showing me the webpage: "THey say it will take five minutes to build them, but it doesn't!" Although he said it was much faster than building the original robots. Also they got to work in groups of three and they told me that it was hard deciding what robot toSt Brigids National School for showing me your work. Are you curious you can go to their webpage and browse through their material. They are a Digital School of Distinction and they are working a lot with coding in all ages.
build. As you can see in the picture the girls thought it was important to decorate the robot a little (that is the wheels on the side). Thank you to
build. As you can see in the picture the girls thought it was important to decorate the robot a little (that is the wheels on the side). Thank you to
Here is the webpage to the LEGOsite:
Scratch is a fun way to start making your own stories, music bands, math games or other games. You code in blocks and you learn in a community. The best thing is that if you like something that someone else has made you can remix it, that means you make a copy of it and then you can change it or keep it as you like. The web site ackknowledges the creater of the game.
Here you can get some ideas and help of what to do:
Could be that this webpage is better suited for little older students but try it out. You get to code your avatar to move through the game. It is not as easy as it may sound but is sure is challenging and interactive! There are free games but you could also pay and get more.
this website is a nonprofit one and you can start using it at a very young age. It offers, instructional video clips, teacher material and a wide range of challenging coding and appeals to both boys and girls (and teachers).
A few classes are free and they you need to pay if you want to continue. Here you learn the most common code languages we have. You learn how to build web pages, games and apps.
Stencyl needs to be downloaded which means you cannot use it on all devices. Although if you have the possibility it is free t ostart with and you build apps with coding blocks. Similar to Scratch.
This is a very easy way to get to know Python. The monster is giving the instructions and you have a lot of lessons to choos from (see down in the bottom, choose lesson sections.)you learn the commands very quickly.
Here you can learn basic code in a fun way. It is easy to use.
This free website may be mostly known for its extensive math tutorials and fun way to learn. They have built computing into the learning as well now. Create a class with your students and get to work. Why not try it out yourself? It is fun!
This webpage offers a few free Hour of Code classes but you can also subscribe if you want to learn more and advance. It is instructional and well worth it to try out.
I have not mentioned coding on the ipad at all but there are a lot of appealing apps that teaches you how to code as well. Daisy the dinosaur, Hopscotch, Kodable, Lightbot, A.L.E.X are just a few of them. Try them out as well.
https://sites.google.com/site/scratchprogrammering/vad-aer-scratch-1
Last but not least I would like to remind you of all the coding you can do without any digital devices; have a look under "programming" here in the blog and browse through the material. Also Code.org has a lot of this exercises as well.
So keep up the good work out there and consider this:
If you can code, you can change the world ...
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