Coding in the Classroom

In my ICT adventures this month, I spent lots of time working on coding with students and teachers around Park West School Division.   December kicked off with Computer Science Education Week.  Across the globe, thousands of people took part in Hour of Code and the staff and students in PWSD were among those participants!   During CSED week, I supported three schools in offering whole school coding events, where every student got to participate in coding activities!  I also joined many other classrooms for coding activities throughout the month.  Some classes paired up with other grade levels for their programming activities and some classes worked on their own. Whether it was single-grade or multi-grade, whole-school or single-class coding activities, I loved being part of the learning and excitement around coding in our schools this month!

Inspired by the great work I witnessed this month, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on coding in the classroom.  I created some images to share my ideas with you!

Why teach coding? 

My 5 Favourite Tools for Teaching Coding & Computational Thinking

I've tried plenty of tools and activities over the last few years and I've developed some favourites that are my "go-to" tools when teaching coding and computational thinking.   The numerical list is not intended as a ranking system, I just have 5 things I use more than anything else!

Regardless of age, I always start with unplugged coding activities.   I like to use these activities to build a basic understanding of coding concepts before we work with technology.  I've developed lessons to teach students about sequencing, conditions, loops and more.   It really helps to include some unplugged lessons to ensure students understand the programs they are writing with technology!

Code.org has so much to offer.   They have a variety of activities for different ages, including both one-hour tutorials and full courses.   Spend some time digging around on their website and you're sure to find something suitable for your class!

Kodable was a favourite in my Grade 1 and 2 classes and it has been very popular in K-4 classrooms around the division.  The free content is a great start, plus they offer paid content if you'd like to offer more coding activities for your students. 

Thanks to Kids Code Jeunesse, our schools now have micro:bit sets for teaching programming!  It's awesome when students can see their programs run on an external device and I'm excited about the possibilities for these pocket-sized computers!

I have two of each of these robots in my ICT kit and they've traveled with me all over PWSD for the last several months!