Hello Everyone!

“Hi class, today we are going to learn how to code!”  – this might be a phrase that could potentially cause anxiety as a student, I know I felt immediately overwhelmed when I seen coding on our Weekly Overview for EDTC300 – turns out, it doesn’t need to be as crazy and complex as we might think!

This week we were tasked with spending some time working on a coding project or learning more about coding, I decided I need to know a little bit more. I took my learning journey to Code.org, an online resource that provides interactive 1-hour tutorials (honestly, they were games) that help introduce coding! Since I know very little, quite honestly – nothing about coding, I decided to find an activity in the Beginner level but for those who want to challenge themselves, there was a Comfortable level as well.

There were many activities but ultimately I decided on SciGirls: Code Quest

 

It was a cool activity with the focus being to get the submarine, Subby, around the underwater world to collect data on organisms under there. To get Subby to a specific area or organism, we are tasked with the challenge to move Subby by using sequences. The little I do know about coding is that sequences are a big part of it (what that means, I am still not entirely sure).  These challenges start off simple with just a Forward option, slowly more get added in. I first was confused by the idea of using sequences, but again, as we moved through the activity it became much more apparent that using the sequences and the “short cuts” the activity provides allows for a more seamless process. Check out some of my sequences below:

 

 

This activity said it was appropriate for Grades 2-8, I found that it would be understood by students in Grades 4-6 best and still allowing them a bit of a challenge. I am excited to explore more of the activities on Code.org as I found the instructions to be very clear and the game itself to be very interactive. It allowed for a high ceiling but a low floor as well, this could meet students where they are now and work with them to build up – I think that is a great tool!

Why is coding in the classroom important?

Problem solving skills and again louder for those in the back, PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS!!!

I am sure that there are MANY other reasons to why coding in the classroom would be important but from my personal experience in this simple coding activity, the way I had to problem solve was incredible! I tried and failed on repeat, but this game allowed me to do so and increased my ability to problem solve and creative think my way through it.

We are living in a world where we are so reliant on technology – why not give our students the opportunity to strengthen not only their understanding of the inner-workings of some of these technologies but also improve their life skills as well?! Sounds like a win-win to me.