2015 Hour of Code: Minecraft

Friday was our last lesson for the 2015 school year ... and what better way to spend it than completing the 2015 Hour of Code: Minecraft!

Sadly half of the class were absent from the lesson, for a range of reasons. Those present got right into it though. This is the first time they've worked independently. As our previous posts show, we've worked as a group through a number of tutorials using Hopscotch to create scenes and games. However, most of the group have used Minecraft, creating their own worlds or playing in worlds created by others ... so they were familiar with the environment and keen to have a go independently at the Hour of Code tutorial for Minecraft.

For a change, I got to spend my time behind the camera, capturing images and some video footage of them working their way through the task at hand. Enjoy!

 

Lots of persistence when things didn't go right

Totally focused on the challenge

 

    

This was a really great final session for the year. All of the students have gained a number of skills during our coding sessions, including numeracy skills (e.g. shape, space, direction, multiples), coding skills (e.g. abstraction, variables, conditionals and loops) and life skills (e.g. how to work together as a team, how to help each other).

In addition ... and probably the skills I was hoping they'd develop ... they learned how to problem-solve and how to persist when things didn't work the first time.

We will continue our exploration of coding when school starts back in February. In the meantime, I'm hoping these students continue to explore on their own, using the skills they've developed this year.

Hopscotch Hour of Code 2014: Make Challenge of the Fire Bunny

What a great time was had in the Numeracy class today. Students were offered the choice of working through one of two possible 2015 Hour of Code projects using Hopscotch. Links to both projects are provided here and readers are encouraged to take a look and try these projects for themselves.

Hopscotch Hour of Code 2014: Dodgeball Food Fight!

 

 Hopscotch Hour of Code 2014: Make Challenge of the Fire Bunny 

The group decided to do the "Make Challenge of the Fire Bunny option as the video length (11 min 34 sec) suggested it might be achievable in a single lesson. This was a good decision and everyone went home with a finished game ... which is always a great achievement and very rewarding for those involved.

It was really nice to watch students jumping up to help others who'd missed an instruction or got lost along the way.

Following the entry of a series of coding blocks, I was excited to hear one of the girls say, "we'll need to put this in a Repeat Forever if we want it to keep going." It's moments like this that make it all worthwhile!

Another precious moment is watching students testing their project and enjoying their success.

Next week is the last week of the 2015 school year. We're going to do the Minecraft Hour of Code project. Watch this space to find out how we got on with something new!

Conquering Angry Birds in Hopscotch - more challenging than expected

Well ... a few of us have managed to conquer this very challenging project. However, it dated more of the class than was expected. In retrospect, perhaps it was too early for us to try something as complicated.

It certainly sparked the students' interest ... but many of them struggled to keep track of the steps and lacked the persistence to problem-solve when their instruction (that is, their script) didn't work.

So, what's next? A colleague shared with me a link to an Hour of Code project using Minecraft. I think this might be an achievable project for the group. When I mentioned this project to the students, several heads jerked up and eyes went wide. They appeared to be quite excited. Follow the link above to the project ... it's worth exploring.

Speaking of the Hour of Code ... s simple search on YouTube reveals some great Hopscotch Hour of Code projects. Check these out too: Hour of Code projects using Hopscotch. Enjoy.

We're not there yet! Angry Birds continues to challenge us!

Boy, when we started this project, we really didn't have a clear understanding of how challenging it would be. Some of the group have really begun to struggle to keep up. Of course this is made worse by non-attendance.

Students have been asked to revisit the video and get themselves and their project up to the 22.29 min mark ... which is where we left it last Thursday. With only three weeks left of class time, I'd like us to complete this project and move on to exploring another App. Let's see if the students rise to the challenge I've set them this week ... and all come to class Friday, prepared to view the remaining 7 minutes of video and program the gravity control steps and the background for their game.

Only time will tell :))

Making Angry Birds in Hopscotch ... more challenging than expected

Last week I was in Melbourne for a MathsPathway Trainer Retreat and my class was taken by a relief teacher who knows most of the students in the group, having taken other subjects in which they were members of the class. I mention this because of the feedback he gave me regarding one of the boys in the group, which is worth acknowledging here.

This young person, I'll call him 'student x' for the purpose of this entry, has the greatest difficulty focussing on anything in class ... and it appears this is the case across all of his subjects. He doesn't read instructions carefully, nor does he listen attentively to verbal instructions. Further, he has a tendency to rush at everything, a bit like a bull at a gate (as my dad used to say) and consequently  is less than successful in assessments or tasks.

I was very excited when the reliever made special mention of student x, saying that he'd met him several times in several subject areas and never once seen him focus like he did in the coding lesson. I was ecstatic and shared this feedback with student x on Friday. How did he take this news? With a shrug of his shoulders ... as is often the norm for adolescent boys. However, when I asked him to work closely with two other boys who had missed last week's lesson, for the purpose of catching them up to the same place as the rest of the group, he took on the challenge. Did the boys catch up? Yes, they did ... a great outcome for them ... but more importantly, for student x, a clear demonstration of what he can do when you find the hook that engages him.

So ... what about making Angry Birds in Hopscotch ... how far have we progressed so far?

Last week, one of the IT Support team joined the reliever in the classroom and they progressed to the 8min 15sec mark of the instructional video. Not a bad effort.

All bar two students present on the day had successfully created the bird and the Y structure of the slingshot ... and one side of the sling itself. This was our starting point on Friday.

Friends supported their mates to catch up on the last steps of adding the first string.

It's great to see students collaborate, problem-solve and conquer their inclination to take the quick way out and just give up when it gets difficult.

Having tutorials available on You Tube makes differentiating manageable too. It allows students to work at their own pace ... and to go over it again for homework to make sure they're ready for the next lesson.





At 3:15pm ... the end of the lesson and school for the week ... I found myself having to stop them again. I think they might have just kept working and missed their busses home.

We've reached the 15min mark of the video ... half way ... so our Angry Birds journey will continue next week, with the expectation that our three independent workers are at the same point as the rest of the group.

As it turns out, one of them has some previous experience with Hopscotch and managed to easily catch up during the lesson today. Fantastic news on many fronts ... but for me, it's great to have another confident coder in the room. Turns out he'd done some coding in Primary School. Sadly, he's missed a bit of school of late, due to health issues. It's great to have him back!

Flappy Bird! Another great session of coding.

This week, we talked about bigger projects, in particular one in which we could make Angry Birds using Hopscotch. Everyone was really enthusiastic about this possibility. However, we all agreed that one more stepping stone might be a good idea. The fourth lesson in the Hopscotch series on You Tube involves the creation of the Flappy Bird game ... and this was the focus of our lesson on Friday afternoon.

This video goes for just over 16 minutes and is a bigger project than we've done before. Hence, not a single photo was taken during the lesson. The students were totally focused on the steps (as was I) and most kept up very well. One student required some one-to-one assistance from me, but with persistence, he also managed to finish the project by the end of the lesson.

We've decided to have a go at the even more challenging project called "Make Angry Birds in Hopscotch!" next week ... a 30 minute video with many new concepts. I promised the students that I would add the video early so that, if they chose to, they could watch it before next week's coding class ... so here it is.

Enjoy!

Adding to our Geometry Dash experience

Last Friday was our first coding session for Term 4. With only 8 teaching weeks left for 2015, we have much to explore before the long Summer break.

In my 'ideal world', the students would have spent some of their September/October holidays exploring Hopscotch ... however, the reality proved to be very different. None of them played around with coding. I find myself asking why this might be the case. I'd hoped the students would become excited about being able to code and create ... and might become self-motivated. Alas, we're not quite there yet!

All is not yet lost though. Once we started the lesson and everyone had a chance to refresh their memories with what they'd achieved last term, we were off and coding again.

There was a small group of three who hadn't quite managed to finish the Geometry Dash project ... or who needed to debug what they'd done and find the error or errors that were interrupting the flow of their game. This group worked with me ... and, yes they were successful and managed to debug or finish their first project and build upon it by adding the scoring option.

The rest of the class worked independently ... or sought help from a peer ... to add the scoring option to their own Geometry Dash game.

The You Tube video for part 2 of the project, Geometry Dash Part 2 - Keeping Score is short and very easily achieved in a short time.

At the end of this video, the presenter challenges students to have a go at changing the background or adding another component to the game. Some of the students had a go at this ... but found it to be more challenging than expected. I've changed the challenge to be a homework  task and am really looking forward to seeing what they achieve.

Geometry Dash - our second Hopscotch project

The earlier school closure time for the end of Term 3, meant that we did not have Lesson 6 on Friday ... which in term meant that we would miss our Coding for Numeracy lesson. This realisation caused great consternation for the students ... so the deal was made that, if they completed all of their numeracy work without complaint, we just might spend some of Thursday's double lesson coding.

Hence, our adventures using Hopscotch continued on the Thursday, this week, with students creating a simple iPad game called Geometry Dash.

This project is the second lesson in the Hopscotch for Kids series of You Tube videos ...

The students got straight down to the business of coding, following the instructions and learned more about debugging and a new concept: concurrency (two or more things happening at the same time).

The ability to have concurrent events occurring, for different characters ...

... which meant there were many more command blocks required.








They learned about nesting instructions in loops ...

... that are conditional ...

... or that repeat forever!








A few of the boys were absent this week, which changed the dynamics in the classroom considerably. However, it had no affect on the degree of collaboration and support among those present, as can be seen in the photo below.

In the end, all bar one student successfully created the Geometry Dash game, on their iPads, in about 45 minutes. Another successful lesson in coding.

I have challenged them to keep exploring Hopscotch during the school holidays ... and hinted that our next project might involve creating an adventure game.

"Good morning" projects ... A great success!

Sadly, none of the students took the time to watch the video posted in last week's blog post: Your First Hopscotch Project (see previous post). However, every cloud has a silver lining ... and watching the video in class was ours!

Before going any further, I'd like to encourage you to explore the great selection of video tutorials available on You Tube, particularly those in the Hopscotch: Programming for Kids collection. The video I am referring to is from this collection and is presented by Dr Em ... read more about Dr. Em and her colleagues on the gethopscotch site.

Now ... back to Friday's lesson. We started by watching the video tutorial by Dr. Em, all the way through. Then we began reconstructing the tutorial, one step at a time. We quickly discovered that our current version of Hopscotch is different from the one used in the tutorial. Specifically, some of the terminology has changed in terms of the building blocks used in the App. This actually proved to be a good thing because it involved the students in problem-solving right from the start. Let me share the project using screen shots ...

Dr. Em explained the screen size and x,y coordinates (an excellent maths connection ... cartesian coordinates!) and took us through a step-by-step process of drawing a line across the screen, that started out thin and ended up filling the entire screen and creating our sky.

How did we do this? We started by selecting a character and then creating a rule.


We used commands from the drawing blocks...

... and from the movement blocks...

... plus we learned about grouping commands together ...

and voila ... the finished product!

The students were all completely focussed on achieving the task ... and persisted until they had every step completed, including the title ... even past 3:15pm (home time) on a Friday afternoon!

Next week is the last week of the school term, so we might attempt a more difficult tutorial and see if we can learn some more about the building blocks of good coding.

Onwards to Hopscotch

This week we started by revisiting the way students solved the fifth challenge step using Scratch Jnr ... and, in particular, the number of steps required by most to solve the problem. We talked specifically about the looping function and how that might be used to make the programming steps both neater to read and more efficient. On that note, we headed on into the world of Hopscotch.

In the PC Magazine review, published in June 2014, the author explains that Hopscotch teaches kids how to program using open-ended tools that allow them to think like programmers without understanding the syntax of the process.

We started by playing with some basic steps to develop our understanding of how the blocks are used to manipulate a character.

Our first step (rule) was to select the character Jodi and make her grow by 110% when tapped.

Next, we made her change her pose when the iPad was tapped.

Our last step (rule) made her shrink every time the iPad detected a loud noise. This was the one that caused the most excitement and laughter, as Jodi shrank so much she disappeared from some  iPads.

This is Jodi after she'd grown and changed her pose by moving her arms.

Whilst some of the students were quick to make the connection with what they'd learned about blocks last week, using Scratch Jnr, others needed help from their peers to create the rules in Hopscotch.



Next week we will explore Hopscotch further. In the meantime, students are encouraged to watch the You Tube video "Your First Hopscotch Project", one of a series of videos posted by Hopscotch Programming for Kids.

This will be our starting point for the next stage of our coding journey.

Scratch Jnr ... a 5-step challenge

This week, students learned about solving challenges, one step at a time. 

Last week's free play gave the students time to explore the blocks, backgrounds and editing tools in the App. The object of the session today was to develop a better understanding of the coding blocks available in Scratch Jnr. Students were provided the following challenges, one step at a time:

• Create a new project using the Earth and Moon background.
• Place your cat sprite in the bottom left-hand corner.
• Move your cat to the Earth, as quickly as you can. Name your project "first name_Step1" and Share it with me via email.
• Starting with your cat in the same spot, move him across to the right fast and then up to the Earth slowly. Name your project "first name_Step2" and Share it with me via email.
• Now repeat the previous step, but make him say something in a speech bubble when he arrives on Earth. Name your project "first name_Step3" and Share it with me via email.
• Repeat Step 2 again, but this time have him say something appropriate, using your voice. Name your project "first name_Step4" and Share it with me via email.
• Now the challenge ... can you get your cat from the Moon to Earth as quickly as you can on the diagonal? Is this possible? It might not be. See what you can do to solve this challenge. Name your project "first name_Step6" and Share it with me via email.

This set of challenges came from a Google Doc I found on the web. 

Sinead was quick to discover how easy it was to achieve the first step ... using the least number of coding blocks.

Karl solved step 2 by adding the "run" and "walk" blocks to guide the speed of his cat.

Jarred added one more coding block to add his speech bubble.

Oliver used the microphone block to add his voice to the cat.

Getting the cat to the Earth, on the diagonal, proved to be very challenging. Eleni found that repeating 2 steps across and 1 step up got the cat where she wanted him. 

Unfortunately, no-one found the repeating loop option ... but this is something we can explore next week.

The students were certainly engaged in the process of problem-solving. They were also very happy to work collaboratively and to help each other out. Towards the end of the lesson a colleague visited the classroom and the students were very happy to share their projects with her. She was most impressed with what they could do.

The students have been asked to download the Hopscotch App for the next stage of our learning journey.

From Bee Bot to Scratch Jnr ... the Journey Continues

This week, the students started to explore the App Scratch Jnr, available from the App Store. This App introduces students to the concept of using programming blocks to make a character move, jump, dance and sing. Whilst playing with this App, students learn to persist to solve problems.

According to make learn.org,  Scratch Jnr allows "users to move and connect coding blocks to control the actions of characters (called sprites) within a rectangular window (called a stage). Blocks are organized into different colour-coded categories; for example, one group of blocks control movement, another controls sprite size, and still others control when, and how many times, an event occurs. ScratchJr projects can be shared between iOS devices using AirDrop or between iOS and/or Android devices via email."

 They go on to add, "The most important educational value of any programming environment is that it allows for the student to make their abstract thought processes visible on the screen. Once the thoughts are made concrete, they can be easily manipulated and controlled by the student in a more tangible way. And, because they are displayed visually on a screen, the teacher can also see what and how a student is thinking. Scratch and ScratchJr were designed so that this visualization is very clear; the code blocks appear as coloured boxes that snap together so that programs can be built (rather than using typed in commands, functions and statements).  The blocks are visual and can be moved around and placed with the mouse or finger."

We had lots of fun ... with most students completing their first 'program' by the end of the lesson ... and sharing it with me before heading home at the end of the day.

The girls all got right into programming their sprites.

Next week, we will explore more of the capabilities of this coding App with an increased focus on problem solving the 'glitches' experienced this week ... and the goal to produce a more polished product for sharing.




Want to do more than is possible with Scratch Jnr? Visit the Scratch website to find out more about the original Scratch product. You can download the PC or Mac versions of Scratch (by MIT) from this link.

Oliver left the class with some questions to explore on Google.

Welcome to Coding for Year 9 Numeracy

What is the link between coding and education?

"Coding isn't just for computer whizzes", says Mitch Resnick of MIT Media Lab. "It's for everyone."


Mitch Resnick's 2013 TED Talk, Let's teach kids to code" is a great place to start to develop an understanding of the benefits of teaching students to code.

As Mitch explains, "when you learn to read, you can then read to learn". He goes on to explain further by adding that learning to code involves students in thinking creatively, reasoning systematically and working collaboratively.  
Coding requires students to develop their ability to transfer knowledge and skills learned in subjects and elsewhere, to new situations. The ability to do so is essential to critical thinking and problem solving.


Learning to code provides students the opportunity to learn to think computationally ... a skill Professor Iwona Miliszewska, president of the Council of Deans of ICT at Canberra University, believes helps define educated people. 

So ... why learn to code in Year 9 Numeracy?

This video, from coding.org tells the story of some of those responsible for the developments of technology over the last 30 years, including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

The purpose of the Numeracy Class is to up-skill students at risk of failing Maths. We have four lessons per week and use the online Australian program MathsPathway to provide a personalised program for every member of the class. We also work on tasks designed to expose students to numeracy in the workplace, providing them some insight into the way numeracy is used in real life.


So why add coding to this already full program? Our fourth Maths lesson each week occurs in Lesson 6 on Fridays ... the last lesson of the school week. We've tried working on our normal program, but quite frankly we're all tired by last lesson Fridays. Last term we enjoyed lots of maths-focussed quizzes using Kahoot ... which the students really enjoyed.

Our coding adventure began on Friday 21 August 2015, with the Bee Bot App. All students had a fantastic time, with most conquering all levels, some with 3 stars on every level.

Bee Bot is available on the App Store.
The students were engaged for the entire lesson. In fact, when I said it was after 3pm and the lesson was almost over, they were shocked, with one commenting, "That lesson went really fast!" 

I recently attended a Critical Agenda Conference in Sydney, iPads in Education. A colleague and fellow ADE, Greg Alchin, presented a coding workshop and I came away inspired to try coding with my Numeracy students in Lesson 6 on Fridays.

Students persisted when it got hard, and felt elated when they made it through a level programming the bee to find the flower.

They also worked collaboratively, helping each other out when they got stuck.

Much fun was had by all ... and they even got used to me taking photos in the end.

I provided the class a glimpse of where we're heading over the next five weeks or so. Watch this space for more updates of our exploits coding on the iPad in Year 9 Numeracy.