Demo Day at St Catherine’s
We finished Term 2 of Coding Kids at St Catherine’s Primary School in Wishart. On the final day of the program students were asked to present their favourite Scratch project that they have made. This is known as Demo Day.
Accessible and inclusive learning
Coding Mentor Shawn Phua is deaf. But this does not stop him from learning and even teaching coding, computational thinking, design thinking and robotics classes in Brisbane, and delivering the Digital Technologies curriculum.
Let’s start from Scratch and learn to code: Part 1
In case you missed it…
Yesterday afternoon, Thursday 27 April, we ran our first in a three-part series of web conferences: Let’s start from Scratch and learn to code.
Part 1: Let’s build two quizzes in Scratch. Learn about logic patterns, algorithms, data storage and making maths fun.
Click here if you would like to watch the recording.
Kick start Digital Technologies like a digital guru
Roll out the new Digital Technologies subject like a digital guru. Here are a couple of tips on what not to do and what to do.
Teach kids to code with Scratch
This is Part 4 in a 4 part series: Designing classes
Let’s start from Scratch and learn to code: Part 2
Part 2 is digital artwork and animation movies.
In the words of Steve Jobs, “Computer science is a liberal arts”. Let’s create digital artwork and introduce how you can make animated stories with Scratch. Learn about Cartesian coordinates, algorithms, and sequencing.
Transforming my son’s screen time one coding class at a time!
Managing my son’s screen time and online gaming has (so far) been my biggest everyday parenting challenge. I’ve set time limits. I’ve ensured he does other activities before screen is allowed. And I’ve ‘Mum-splained’ many times that the TV and iPad do not count as a ‘screen break’ from his computer. He also does a number of sports. I have every strategy going, and yet screen time still feels like an ongoing negotiation, requiring energy I don’t have. He is nearly ten and he is exceptionally persistent when it comes to computers.
What is the best programming language to get a job?
Coding classes for children are so much fun. They build computer games, animated stories and digital artwork. After a hard day at school, they come to us and we let our imaginations run wild and be creative. In the process, they learn timeless skills such as computational thinking, problem solving, logic, design and creativity.
But these questions makes me wonder, do children’s piano classes, swimming classes or speech and drama classes get asked the same questions?
Want extra ideas for your coding clubs?
Here are some of the activities we do at our Coding Kids clubs: program with Scratch, program with Python, program mBot, program Lego Mindstorms EV3, and build digital solutions with Makey Makey.
Year 5-6 students completed Demo Day and the winner is…
Demo Day is short for demonstration day where Startups demonstrate their end product. Students presented their Scratch computer game, then we all voted and the winner was …