Inspiring the next generation of coders
In January, I introduced a course on making Apps with JavaScript at my local primary school. I chose Bitsbox, an interactive programming environment which allows children to create Apps that run on mobiles and tablets.
Bitsbox launched a Kickstarter campaign, which I was more than happy to back.
Bitsbox is aimed at primary school children, but can be used by anyone with some knowledge of JavaScript. Continue reading “Coding JavaScript Apps”
I have been teaching Scratch to primary school children for two years now.
Scratch was developed by MIT to enable children to create their own stories and games while learning to code. There is a terrific community of ‘scratchers’ where projects are shared and remixed. Thousands of projects have been made – from very simple animations to complex programs. Continue reading “Why I love Scratch”
I was just listening to a Guardian Tech Weekly podcast where the discussion moved on to coding for children. With a new ICT school curriculum, teachers have a big task in their hands. There are many open source resources available that can help to support the new school curriculum, but the choice can be overwhelming for teachers. Continue reading “Coding has to be fun”
We had our last HTML lesson of the term this week.
I think the children are ready for a break; they were a little more hyper than usual, but still, we got down to work and the children got to finish their web pages.
Last week I started a course on HTML for Year 5 and Year 6 school children. The children were as enthusiastic as ever, so expectations were high. We had a tricky start learning about tags – especially remembering to close them! I used Mozilla Webmaker Tools for this, and although I think it worked well, this week I shall be adding colour to the mix with some CSS to make it a bit more exciting.
Before the Easter break, I taught Scratch to twelve enthusiastic children at my local primary school. This time, I was pleased to have two girls in the group. As the children had enjoyed making games, I decided to introduce new programming concepts while building more games and stories. Half of children were new to Scratch, which meant I had to have teaching material for two levels. As soon as the children got into the swing of things, they had the confidence to help each other, which was good to see. Continue reading “Making games with Scratch”
I’m really chuffed that my first whole term of coding with primary school children has proved more successful than I had dared imagine. I’m feeling proud of the time I dedicated into getting the materials ready to use in class; it totally paid off. I’m particularly impressed with the children, who’s enthusiasm was infectious. Continue reading “Six weeks of coding at primary school”
It has been a good start to 2014. I started an after school coding club for primary school children at my local school. I’m very pleased with the way it’s going, and to see the enthusiasm of the children. We are using Scratch and so far the children have produced some great work. Continue reading “Is coding just for boys?”
I met up with John Fones of Clevedon School last week and while discussing the coming up CAS SW (Bristol) Hub meeting, Blockly came up in the conversation. Blockly is a visual programming editor for educators, parents and children. The editor is like Scratch which allows to snap blocks together in a logical order. The project is still under development but there a some sample applications to play with. I had a go with at the maze, which I found great for teaching conditionals.
Right now I’m feeling a huge sense of satisfaction after delivering 3 x 3 hour sessions of Scratch at Yatton Junior School with James Irwin (@gracesauto), whose employer allowed him to join me during school hours to mentor young children on how to code.
We set off on this journey feeling a little nervous; 26 children in the computer room, all waiting for our instructions. We didn’t want to tell the children what to do, but rather encouraged them to use their creativity to create anything they wanted. The children already had a bit of experience with Scratch, so it wasn’t difficult to get them started. Continue reading “Scratching away”