Coding is not my cup of tea. I honestly don’t know how people do it. I used the draw feature on code.org and it took me a couple days to figure out (I would get frustrated and give up). However tonight, I was able to create something.
Photo By Me
I mostly just created a series of lines, I get too frustrated when I try to add more things into it. Once I figured out that I had to adjust the pixels by which the character is moving by it got easier. I still don’t totally understand the purpose of coding but I think with a little more exploring I could figure it out.
Photo By Me
With the knowledge that I have right now I still don’t see coding to be useful within the classroom. All I can picture is frustration. I know one of the arguments to include coding within the classroom is that it teaches students how to work through their problems but they get that in everyday teachings to begin with. I think it would be most helpful being taught in a computer science course and possibly math and science.
I noticed on code.org that there was a game about forests fires. When I clicked on it, the game actually provided me with a ton of information on human-made forests fires and how they are put out. I see the benefits of games like this – that have educational content. But I struggle to see the importance of coding and minecraft (the example we did in class).
I’m sure my opinion will change as I continue my education and gain field experience. However, at this point of time I don’t see the importance of coding other than for fun.