EDTC 300
“Am I just eating because I’m bored?”6/12/2020 I decided to use The Hour of code, from this website I actually completed two hour of code activities because I was having so much fun with it! For my screencastify I chose to take the beginning of my learning from the Grinch themed coding. For this activity my mission was to move the Grinch past different obstacles to grab all the presents or pick up Max. At the beginning I had no idea what I was doing. I hit the trees many times (which this screencastify is my second take because the first one failed to save) so by my second take I did it move easily which you will be able to see in this video. The instructions were super easy to follow and I think elementary students would easily be able to complete the first couple of lessons. I believe it was around lesson 6 or 7 that I got stuck. When jumping I would jump to far and then land or hit the second tree in my path most of the time. I also would jump over the first tree and then sometimes miss the present. One thing I liked about this theme was that it allowed the option to skip a level if you got stuck on it, which I was thinking about doing but instead of kept working at it until I finally passed the level. Skipping a level would be good for students though, because they may still understand that lesson but cannot understand the controls enough to move forward which wouldn't allow them to be successful.
As I stated in the beginning of this blog post I had lots of fun with coding, this website gives students a unique and fun way to learn about coding which I believe would keep the students interested in the lesson. I believe the teacher would just have to make sure they go over why the kids are using the website, because some kids may think they are just playing games. I also really enjoy Hour of coding because it has so many different themes that many different ages can choose from, allowing a student to find something they like will lead to them being more successful. The ages that can use this application are from Pre-readers to Grade 9 +. While reading the article "8 reasons why every child should learn how to code" I found it very interesting that students can learn how to code without even using a computer which I believe is very important because some students don't have their own computers or some schools can't afford to give every student access to a computer. One of these activities that I found interesting was the coding with magnetic tiles, at the daycare I worked at the kids loved to play with these so using them in coding would definitely peak their interest. This article also links what they think are the best coding application for kids, from using the computer or even downloading it on a phone or Ipad. There is also more than just applications, students can participate in a coding course which gives them real-time feedback from their teacher. If your not sure about bringing in coding to your class room here are the 8 reasons children should learn how to code from Teach your kids code.
1 Comment
Raylin Janzen
6/13/2020 02:35:00 pm
Hi Meagan! I also chose to do the hour of code, but chose the Flappy Bird one. I also really enjoyed it, and ended up trying out the Moana one we started in class as well. I think coding could be a really useful tool in the classroom, and even a method for students to present their learning in a creative way (once they start to do some of the more advanced options). Thanks for sharing!
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