I am the first to admit that I lack coding knowledge. I know it is important and I know that it lets me complete many of my daily tasks, but how it works? I'm no expert. My academic degrees have all been focused deep in education and especially curriculum, so my knowledge on coding has been self sought. My first impulse to learn more was when I saw these statistics on Code.org . One stat that is projected is that there will be 1,000,000 more computer science jobs than there are students with a computer science degree by 2020. That is just five years away! I feel like we have an obligation here as educators to educate our students on the possibilities computer science could provide them.
So, when do we fit coding in during the day? How do we do this when we have received no training in our teaching training on how to code? Believe me I get that, but we could really hook some students in school with coding which is linked to gaming and app creation. Several teachers in the district have realized there is a need to open their students to coding and have found a couple ways. One teacher is using the few minutes in the morning as students are arriving, doing lunch count, etc. to fit in a little extra coding learning. Other schools are using this during their building intervention time in their extension groups.
While visiting one class I was amazed at the buzz going on in the classroom. These kids were hooked into what they were doing. I am just going to share student quotes. Listen to all the academic language that was happening organically.
"How many degrees to I need to turn that to finish?"
"I want to make a circle. I think if you do this, the closest you will get is a hexagon."
"When I code, I have to take a bird's eye view and put myself in the bird's shoes I'm trying to get to move."
"Coding takes a lot of work. Someone worked really hard to give a lot of people enjoyment."
So the first thing I noticed while only being in that room 15-20 minutes was the math language and problem solving going on. They were using the language for a real world purpose. It was pretty cool. I hope my post has at least sparked your curiosity a little more about coding. Below are some resources to get you and your students coding! Please let me know your experiences with any of these resources or share other great ones!
Code.org- This link will take you directly to the educator's portal and provides online tutorials for your students that start at ages 4 on up.
Apps
Daisy the Dino- Early Elementary or an intro to teach the basics
Kodable- Recommended for ages 5 and up
Tynker- Designed for older elementary children ages 9-11
While visiting one class I was amazed at the buzz going on in the classroom. These kids were hooked into what they were doing. I am just going to share student quotes. Listen to all the academic language that was happening organically.
"How many degrees to I need to turn that to finish?"
"I want to make a circle. I think if you do this, the closest you will get is a hexagon."
"When I code, I have to take a bird's eye view and put myself in the bird's shoes I'm trying to get to move."
"Coding takes a lot of work. Someone worked really hard to give a lot of people enjoyment."
So the first thing I noticed while only being in that room 15-20 minutes was the math language and problem solving going on. They were using the language for a real world purpose. It was pretty cool. I hope my post has at least sparked your curiosity a little more about coding. Below are some resources to get you and your students coding! Please let me know your experiences with any of these resources or share other great ones!
Code.org- This link will take you directly to the educator's portal and provides online tutorials for your students that start at ages 4 on up.
Apps
Daisy the Dino- Early Elementary or an intro to teach the basics
Kodable- Recommended for ages 5 and up
Tynker- Designed for older elementary children ages 9-11