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!