Neal and I kicked off day three bright and early in Maplewood, NJ, where we were enjoying some great New England spring time weather. :D
First Stop: Clinton Elementary
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Welcome to Clinton Library![/caption]
What we learned:
We did some advanced looping with the third grade coders of Clinton Elementary. The students we talked to all showed great interest in learning to code, so we decided to jump in to loops during the unplugged activity. After doing the unplugged version of loops, we projected Kodable on the SMART board, so everyone could see how loops work in the game. We solved a couple lessons together, and talked about how these loops are different from loops they've done in other programs. Once everyone said they felt comfortable, we handed out the iPads for them to try on their own and in groups.
Take away: Talking about how the loops worked differently, solving a few lessons together, and preparing with discussion, helped the actual individual work go really smoothly.
Favorite moment: During our conversation on bugs in programming, we diverted on to a science lesson on why insects are different from arachnids. Without thinking, I said arachnids were not bugs - WRONG! I was quickly reminded that arachnids are, indeed bugs. :) +1 to Clinton Elementary first grade scientists.
Question for the Kodable community: Do you know any good programming books for kids?
The great Jen Latimer is looking for some titles to add to their selection and I thought our #KidsCanCode and Kodable family would be the best place to start. Leave any suggestions in the comments or tweet at Jen personally: @jenlatimer
Some ideas:
"Hello Ruby" - by Linda Liukas
"What do you do with an Idea?" - by Kobi Yamada (Not programming, but still great. I just bought it for my niece)
Second Stop: Marshall Hill School
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Look at all those lovely fuzzes![/caption]
What we learned:
Conditions have always been one of the hardest things for me to explain. I'm always trying new ways to make such an abstract concept seem more concrete. Logically, it is simple to understand, "If this, then that," but because it is such a logical expression it is hard to make it concrete in language the littles can understand.
Today, I tried out a new way of explaining it: "When your mom is giving directions to your dad when he is driving, how does he know when to turn? If she doesn't tell him to turn he'll keep doing straight. We have to give the fuzzes specific instructions telling them where to turn, or they'll keep going straight. We give them the signal to turn by using colors."
I'm going to keep trying this as we continue on the road tour. Perhaps it will make it's way into the next revision of the Kodable Learning Guide on Conditions. Will you give it a try? Let me know how it goes in the comments!
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Expert coders working on conditions.[/caption]
Favorite moment: Seeing all of the beautiful fuzzes the kids had colored for us. The walls were covered with new fuzz ideas! <3
The future:
Everyone at Marshall Hill is on board with coding. It was wonderful to see all of the staff so engaged and excited about getting their students in to programming. Cindy Ranieri and Laura Oaks (@LauraOakes31) are doing a great job of building a community around coding, and they hope to continue that next year with more integration.
