Over lunch today, I was pulling together a few resources related to data governance for a different project and was digging through the great resources provided by Common Sense Media Education (on Twitter @CommonSenseEd). As I search for my original target, I came across this video on ways to get kids coding. Take a look. . .
While the three tips included are things I had heard, and shared before I still found myself pulled into this quick little video. I have been working on a broader project working to integrate computational thinking and computer science into the work of our (primarily) Math and Science efforts. This has resulted in me taking long looks at several coding apps, robotics programs, and other computational thinking related resources.
By far, my current favorite is Tynker. The app is extremely well done on iOS and the web resources are incredibly rich. We are, however, still in the midst of a funding quagmire. The Tynker app on iOS is free (the school version incomes with a $6 price tag). The training options on the website, the curriculum itself, is outstanding and comes with a pricing model designed for whole school adoption. Yes, they have "classroom" plan, but that seems to fit a program that has the same 30 students under one teacher for a whole semester (12 lessons with 62 activities falls a bit short of the traditional 90 class days of a semester). But for many teachers, schools, districts, and in my case, programs, do not work that way. If I am an innovative 5th-grade science teacher and I want to integrate computer science, and coding, into my course, I may have 60-80 students (if students rotate teachers). I may not need 60+ activities because I may not have the time available or I may elect to use some of the great resources from Code.org to supplement as well.
Before I go any further, this is not a criticism of Tynker. In fact, they have a great 6 lesson course that would fit perfectly into the scenario that I described and it is offered free. But it is one course. Now it is up to me to piece together Tynker, Code.org, and other resources to build my own curriculum. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is more work for the teacher. Especially when you look at the management of these varied resources.
I want to use resources from Tynker, Code.org, Sphero, Wonder Workshop, CS First, Swift Playgrounds and a half a dozen other apps and programs. But I also want to keep my sanity. Developers, please don't take this as criticism I am after all a teacher. Take it as a design challenge. I am here to teach students. In the words of Jerry Maguire, "Help me help you!"
Well, until those developers contact me directly for my thoughts, here is a Participate Learning collection of my favorite coding resources.
Just saw Pitch Perfect 3 trailer. Looks like its going to be another year of fun ride. Incredibly excited to see the Bella ladies returning on screen. Wish there was something going on between Beca and Chloe in this one. Give something for use queer ladies too, will you Trish ;)
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