Reflection 10: Coding In The Classroom

This week in EdTech class, we had Rich McCue as a guest lecturer who talked about coding in the classroom. 

Rich started our class by recognizing that coding and technology can bring anxiety to some, so he started the session off with a short breathing activity. This class brough back memories of when I first learned to code using Python in University. I really enjoyed this class and being able to play around with the multiple resources that I have listed below and seeing the different ways that coding can be introduced to students early on in their education through fun and creative avenues.

Why teach coding:

• • Coding can explain the digital world, can help students understand what’s  going on in the background.
  • Develop problem solving and computational thinking skills
  • Coding is active, helps math and logic come alive for students. Some of the standard math sheets can be really mundane. Adding coding can help make math come alive.
  • Computers will do exactly what you tell it to do.
  • Coding can be fun, especially when learners are already interested.

Resources:

• • Studio Code – Anna and Else Coding Activity
  • Robot Magic – Equity vs Equality
  • Scratch – Creative Development
  • Scratch – Star Catcher
  • Scratch – Story Telling
  • Scratch – Physics Ballistics and Arcs
  • Scratch – Math and Geometry
  • TinkerCad – Great for intermediate grades and up. Is a great way to introduce math and geometry.

Feature Image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash