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Coding, Technology, and Computational Thinking

April 21, 2020

1. One Definition: Computational Thinking = Problem Solving + Computing tools
                                                                                      [it's a process]
   
   
   • Another definition: https://k12cs.org/computational-thinking/
   • And, yet another from ISTE (the national technology professional organization for teachers)
     https://id.iste.org/docs/ct-documents/computational-thinking-operational-definition-flyer.pdf?sfvrsn=2
     
     
2. Coding with blocks
   • PLAY https://blockly.games/ [this supports your assignment for this week]
   • EXPLORE https://hourofcode.com/us/learn
   • SEE Kids coding - in action [You may certainly watch both but there is one specifically focused
     on the age of students that you work with.]

     Cubetto: Coding for Kinders	Sphero: Taking Coding Up a Notch
     Watch three children code using a Cubetto (from Simple to Complex coding)	A Middle Grades Teacher and Students Show & Tell What a Sphero can do

ASSIGNMENT

You are going to learn coding with blocks (this is the precursor to coding with scripting languages like Java or Python) by playing the games on the blockly website https://blockly.games/. Your assignment will be to take four (4) screen snaps which you will add to one word document and on this same document, write 2-3 sentences about you think of coding for kids (like/dislike, benefits, etc. This you will submit in Blackboard and you'll find the assignment submission from Assignment Related >> Assignment Submission

1. First, in your browser, create a folder with your name so that it appears in the bookmarks bar. (see mine for an example). This shows that this is your browser on your computer. See here for steps....
2. Next, play the first round of blockly: I with the animal matching. Take a screen snap of your completed game. NOTE: this has only one level.
3. Now you'll play the game until you get through some but not all of these levels: Puzzle, Maze, Bird, and one of the following (you choose): Turtle, Movie, Music
4. Here's what you'll take screen snaps of (total of 4 snaps):
   • Animal level- completed (see #2 for an example of the screen snap)
   • Maze: through level 5 (screen snap with grey circles filled in up to 5 and your name folder)
   • Bird: through level 5 (screen snap with grey circles filled in up to 5 and your name folder)
   • One of the following through level 3: Turtle, Movie, Music
5. Now, insert your screen snaps on a Word document and somewhere on this document, write 2-3 sentences about what you think of coding for kids.

RESOURCES O' THE DAY:

A Great Educational Coding Website
https://www.codeforlife.education/

Top Coding Websites for Kids
https://codakid.com/top-21-kids-coding-websites-of-all-time/

10 Free Coding Games Websites for Teaching Programming Skills
https://childhood101.com/coding-for-kids/

Hour of Code
https://hourofcode.com/us

Computational Thinking Competencies
https://www.iste.org/standards/computational-thinking

Computational Thinking Teacher Resources (RICH RESOURCE)
https://id.iste.org/docs/ct-documents/ct-teacher-resources_2ed-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=2

A Comprehensive List of Coding Resources
https://mommypoppins.com/coding-kids-free-websites-teach-learn-programming

Videos on Computational Thinking and Coding:

Computational thinking: A digital age skill for everyone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcUgSYyRPg&t=1s

Other Videos from ISTE
https://www.youtube.com/user/istevideos/search?query=computational+thinking

A Fabulous and Free Coding Website for Kids from MIT - Scratch
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=getStarted

Sphero

Teacher's Guide
https://dmmedia.sphero.com/email-marketing/Sphero-Edu/SpheroEdu-k12-teacher-resource-guide-v1_updated050818.pdf