For this blog post, I participated in an Hour of Code activity. The activity I chose was called Mario’s Secret Adventure, where I created the code to help Mario collect coins and diamonds while avoiding enemies.

Here’s the proof of my coding!

I thought this activity and how Hour of Code is set up would be fairly accessible. I have minimal experience with coding and was a little nervous, but Hour of Code broke down coding into ten manageable steps. I worked on setting up the keys to use and the associated directions. Then, I set up the collection of coins and determined how many points each coin was worth. The next step was building a code to avoid enemies, and if an enemy got me three times, the game would be over. The second last step was about the visuals- I got to pick the colours for the sky, ocean and blocks and select different avatars. The last step was creating my own game. 

This fun and engaging activity would be good for most students. The game sounds were a bit overstimulating, but the volume could be lowered. I could see some students finding this coding activity challenging as they follow some directions. However, the activities have scaffolding and build upon each other. Mario’s Secret Adventure comes with a Teacher’s Manual, which makes teaching coding easier, and teachers are able to troubleshoot and help their students.  

Coding is beneficial for students as it teaches about procedural writing, the background information for the games they play on the internet, the ability to follow directions, and the use of problem-solving.