Looking at the requirements for this weekly assigned blog post I will admit that I was not looking forward to it. I will admit that the thought of doing code is intimidating. After all, I have taken CS 110 as part of my Bachelor of Science degree. Lets just say, I passed.
Based on that, I decided to do the Hour of Code at Code.org, classified myself as a beginner and picked Mind Makers Maps as what I was going to code in. This required me to create code that would move an object along a historical path from one location to another. One example was the route Christopher Columbus took in 1492 from Spain to Central America. The program was rated for Grade 9 and up and used blocks that helped with the programming. The blocks gave you limited options to choose from, and the program allowed you to “run” the the code you created as many times as you wanted until you got it right. Maybe I missed some of the instructions, but I didn’t see any direction on how to start building your code program, how to move the blocks to the program area, or what each type of block meant. It was definitely try and test learning. I think I got over confident with the first couple of challenges, tried to jump ahead to challenge 10, looked at the blocks and put on the brakes. I headed back to where I was (Challenge 3) and hoped that I would understand the process enough to move ahead to more difficult coding. That understanding didn’t come in the amount of time I spent on the program. I did complete 5 challenges but got stuck on Challenge 6, even with a hint. Based on this, I did not even attempt a Scratch project since I had read other blogs that said they gave up on it fairly quickly.
CHECK OUT HOW I DID HERE: To Code or Not to Code – Hour of Code
So, I guess that tells you my feelings on coding. I think that coding is going to become more important in an increasingly digital world, but I also think its best left to the experts. That is, the people who are interested in coding, who like the mystery and detail of coding and who can see the big picture of what the series of letters, loops, arrays, functions and ‘if’/’then’ statements will produce. Looking at it from the perspective of an early elementary educator, I might use the learning on code.org as an activity option on a ‘Fun Friday’ or for students who have completed their work. I do not see myself dedicating time to teach coding to my students.