Students learn basics of coding
Over the past few weeks, Butler Catholic students from kindergarten through eighth grade have been learning the building blocks of code — the computer language that assembles everything from websites to video games and smartphone apps.
Students participated in the international Hour of Code project earlier this month and have continued to reinforce the lessons since then.
This year, more than 80 million students worldwide have tried coding tutorials at hourofcode.com.
Kristen Singleton, a computer teacher and IT director at the school, said coding is a big part of the future, and it is important to introduce coding to even the youngest students.
“This is where the world is going,” she said. “This is where the lucrative jobs are going to be.”
Sitting in a computer lab Tuesday afternoon, about 30 older and younger students worked together on a coding tutorial. Adeline McConnell, 6, sat with Mia Maher, 14, customizing options on the popular smartphone app Flappy Bird.
Using Blockly code, a kid-friendly way to change coding — analogous to snapping colorful puzzle pieces together on a computer screen — the pair customized surroundings, obstacles and sounds in the game. They decided from drop down lists what sounds their bird would make when it flew and when it crashed and whether they could choose plants or lasers to move around, among other things.
“Hear the sound it makes when it goes through the tube?” Mia asked Adeline.
“It sounds like my refrigerator,” Adeline said, disapproving of the sound by shaking her head.
Kindergarten teacher Christine Fisher saw them laughing and smiling from across the room.“It's so cool to see them building,” Fisher said. “Seeing their faces when it finally works.”Kindergarteners have also practiced coding with an animation based on the movie “Frozen.” Older students have delved into writing code for a bubble-blowing game in their classes through a program called Touch Develop.And it's piqued the interest of girls, which is important in the male-dominated coding field.“I think it's really cool working with computers. Coding is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it,” Mia said. “Once it was all done, it was worth it. It was cool to see the creation I made.”Singleton said this is one step further in introducing students to technology, beyond Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs.“They're soaking it up,” she said of the code classes. “It's very easy to learn.”In September, all 45 seventh and eighth graders and every teacher were given Google Chromebooks to use thanks to a $25,000 grant the school received.
