Empowering Digital Citizens
12/8/2017
“I did it! Yay!! This is fun!” —2nd grader “Why didn’t that work? It should have worked… This isn’t very clear!” — 7th grader and her mom Exceptional learners and independent thinkers exhibit many qualities: self-confidence; creativity; a problem-solving mindset; perseverance and persistence. Our goal each week is to provide opportunities for our students to practice these skills and dispositions in preparation for the times when they leave the shelter of home and school. This week we participated in the Hour of Code, a world-wide learning event that takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week. The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code," to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. This grassroots campaign is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide. Over the past few years over 100 million students in every country in the world have participated, and this year, our students did too! Why teach students computer programming (coding?) When we think about what it means to be literate, we are really saying that we are able to read and write the media of the day. In the 21st century, that media includes technology and computers. When computers first became available to the mainstream, they were complicated enough that anyone who wanted to use them had to learn programming to do so - one had to be able to "read AND write computers." As computer technology became increasingly user-friendly and pervasive, this was no longer necessary. And so we find ourselves using computer technology daily in every field and every walk of life without really understanding what we are using. We can “read” computers and apps, but not “write" them. Learning computer programming has many benefits. Seymour Papert, professor of Media Technology at MIT, co-founder of MIT's Artificial Intelligence and Media Labs, and one of the world's foremost experts on the impact of computers on learning, argued that the computer’s true power as an educational medium lies in its “...ability to facilitate and extend children's awesome natural ability and drive to construct, hypothesize, explore, experiment, evaluate, draw conclusions -- in short to learn all by themselves.” When students learn to code, they strengthen their computational thinking skills. Computational thinking is the ability to communicate thoughts and solve problems in a structured and logical way: a combination of advanced mathematics, algorithm development, and logic. Computer programming requires you to check your work for details and to persist at a task. All of these skills are valuable in any future career or endeavor. Another benefit of learning computer science is its economic power: computing occupations are the fastest-growing, best-paying, and now the largest sector of all new wages in the US. Fun for All Ages The best thing about computer coding is that it is fun! We had a great time during our parent lunch as middle schoolers partnered with their parents to give coding a try. Parents and students alike were engrossed in building Star Wars, Moana, soccer, Flappy Bird, and Dragon Quest games; some made it through to the end and actually downloaded the games they created to their own iPads to play! On Friday several of our students took their new learning down to the Ms. Hitchcock's classroom and helped her second graders participate in their own Hour of Code. Thanks to everyone for their spirit of experimentation as we ventured into new territory! To learn more about Hour of Code, visit the home page. And if you or your students want to expand your coding skills, visit the Hour of Code Activities page; there are tons of great activities to try - for beginners as well as more advanced coders. Comments are closed.
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Sarah Mariner
Ms. Mariner earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University, and was awarded a teaching certificate through the University of Alaska, Southeast. Her varied background includes being an environmental education field instructor in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Baja, Mexico. She also served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Archives
April 2021
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