I love puzzles, especially ones that involve logic. It’s a form of mental exercise that is sometimes lacking in life. It’s satisfying to stretch the muscles and find different possibilities to tackle a puzzle. And when the solution is found and the puzzle is complete, there is a silent yet cathartic release of dopamine in the brain that leaves you pleased with the work you put into it. Or if it was a puzzle you were working on for days and had a really easy solution, a loud cathartic groan can be heard along with the palms in one’s face. Puzzles are great.
This week, I went to Code.org and chose Minecraft Hero’s Journey Hour of Code. I was a bit confused at first as I thought I would be inputting the code for Steve (the character). I quickly realized I was inputting the code for the robot companion, which I should have realized had I read the instructions properly. Once I understood what was going on, I began to breeze through the puzzles, one by one. I then noticed the additional objective of retrieving the diamond before ending the puzzle. From that point onwards, the diamond was the priority before finishing the level. I finished all the levels within 30 min, which was great but also annoying as I wanted to complete more. The last level was a free play level, encouraging the user to create code using what they just learned. I fiddled around with it and made a loop. It was a bit more tedious than expected as I needed to cross over the river. I spent more time attempting to figure out how to create the loop than any of the previous levels. Part of that time was understanding some new commands that were not previously there before. The other part of that time was understanding where I went wrong, fix the mistake, then wait for the code to reach the fixed point. I eventually did create my loop and was satisfied to shut the program down. Overall, it was a great experience and a great introduction to coding for students.. It did a good job at keeping me engaged with the coding material with something I was familiar with (Minecraft texture).
I never had much coding experience growing up. I had a friend that dabbled in it from time to time, but I had no interest. It looked like a foreign language that I would never have to think about. When I came to the UofR, I had to take a computer science course, which meant I had to learn coding. The material itself was bland at first, but once I understood the building blocks, I had more fun with it. That being said, it was still stressful, especially when the code didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. I had a better appreciation for coding once the class was done and can see why so many people are fascinated by it. I think students are hesitant to learn coding because portrayals of coding in the media can be seen as “complicated” or “nerdy”. Websites like Hour of Code or Code Academy break the stigma, showing that the material can be broken down to digestible bite-sized portions and be relatable in their artistic endeavors.
As society leans more heavily into technology, it makes sense for students to learn about it prior to university. Coding is utilized everywhere, from computer programs to phones to cars. There are tons of job opportunities that come with it. Coding also allows students to think with logic using visual aids. They can see the consequence for each of their actions and can correct them accordingly. They are able to understand the logic for themselves without having to be told where they went wrong.
