If (Coding Research) Then (Read and Learn)
Resource #1:
Description:
This website offeres pre-made, interactive, scaffolded lessons for students to follow and gain computer and coding skills. These lessons start at a pre-reader level and go right to highschool level.
Impression:
I could see how this website would be a great resource for a teacher introducing coding to his/her students. The prescribed lessons are a bit dry but the variety of games ready for students to apply block coding skills to are vast and appealing. There is something there to meet any topic of interest the students may have. This is a solid website resource and something I plan to incorporate into my teaching of coding.
Resource #2:
Description:
This resource is an education guide with embedded links which explain how to teach with Minecraft in the classroom. Includes videos, FAQs, outcomes, answer keys and adaptations for remote learning.
Impression:
This resource has the aim to teach not only about coding but about biases and the mnemonic CALM. The guide offers challenges that can be issued to students and which will spur conversation about inclusion and biases. The coding seems to be a means to an end in this guide and therefore not it's main focus. This resource does not provide much insight into how one might teach about coding and assumes the user already has a good understanding of how to operate Minecraft. This resource would be beneficial to someone who is looking to further their coding skills and minecraft application in the classroom but unfortunately, did not help me much as a beginner coder. It does however, offer a Minecraft control chart which is helpful and something that I will tuck away as a useful resource for the future.
Resource #3:
The Nuts and Bots of Math and Coding in the Lower Grades
Description:
Peer reviewed article about how to use robots and coding with K-2 students towards specific mathematical standards.
Impression:
This resource is a peer-reviewed journal article which examines the theoretical reasons for coding with young children as well as offering a handful of activities which reinforce math concepts. Among other suggestions, it proposes that young students be exposed to both visual coding and block coding methods at a young age. It also suggests that there is a benefit to students critiquing each other’s code as part of the collaborative learning process. This article suggest conversations occur during teaching with the aim of highlighting to students how coding can look different but still work and how code can be more made more efficient. This article is a nice mix of practical coding challenges for younger students as well some evidence-based conclusions about how to efficiently emphasize mathematical concepts through coding with young students. Some of the practical ideas are useful for my context and I gained an appreciation of the theoretical reasons why coding with young children is beneficial.
Resource #4:
Description:
This website is a central hub website which brings users to other sites offering coding lessons/games. You can search the database by popularity, creator, age group, activity type, length of activity, language and subject. There are so many themes to the coding games that practically every child will find an activity which is appealing to them.
Impression:
This is a great resource full of activities which put students in the “drivers seat”. Once they learn the basics, I think they will find the variety of programmable games on this site to be irresistible. Great website and one I'm planning on introducing to students in the future.
Resource #5:
Description:
This series of Youtube videos present a computer programming problem to be solved within the context of a story and with the aid of recurring characters. The mini episodes feature a girl BIPOC character and a robot.
Impression:
This is a fun visual way to connect with concepts of coding especially if individual technology in the classroom is a problem. This video can be projected for the class to view, paused for discussion and even offers hints and explanations throughout. Some prior knowledge would increase the enjoyability of this video series, although the more videos of the series that students watch, the more coding skills they will be able to apply. Problems and vocabulary are too advanced for students younger than grade 4.
References:
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