Is coding only for geeks, gamers or geniuses?
Is coding only for people who like maths, logic, and analytical thinking? For geeks, gamers or geniuses? Or is coding a means to create for the arts, human-centred design, empathy, storytelling, human connection, building imaginary worlds, characters and adventures, social impact and creative expression.
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.
Variables and how to use them in Scratch
Variables are so important becuasse they allow us to hold a bit of information in a ‘container’ so that it an be editted and used multiple times in our code. Come check out how to use them in Scratch and find out more about the ins and outs of variables!
Knight Collects the Coins in the Castle
Scratch is a versatile, online program that can be used to teach several important skills as well as maintaining a level of fun and engagement through the use of game and animation creation. Today, we’ll focus on a game called Knight collects the coins in the castle, which you can find here. This game is fun to make and play and uses concepts like x and y coordinates, sensing, decision making and variables. These are important skills, both for computer programing and for the development of problem solving skills.
6 fundamentals of coding
There are only 6 fundamental concepts of coding. We covered the first three concepts in a previous blog post. Let’s go through the last three concepts here: arithmetic, data storage, data in / data out.
3 logic patterns of coding
Coding, or computer programming, is built on three basic logic patterns:
- Sequencing
- Branching
- Looping
These three ideas form the basis of all coding knowledge.
Programming Pepper, the friendly humanoid robot
This week at the Pepper Studio, in Brisbane, we held a 5 day Pepper workshop. In this workshop, the kids learned how to use Choregraphe software to create programs for Pepper with both drag and drop code and python.
Gold Coast Code Camp Models a Minion
Can you make a 3D minion? You would be surprised by how easy it is! During our four-day school holiday code camp on the Gold Coast, one of the activities that we did was modelling a printable 3D minion. We made it using Microsoft 3D Builder — a program that comes with Windows 10. Really, anyone can model a minion — read all about it here!
Coding kids in Longreach
Coding Kids visited Longreach and delivered 5 workshops for students, teachers and parents. With a funding of $2200, over 180 people participated in the workshops held over 2 days in this regional Queensland town.
What I learned at PyCon: Python in Education Seminar
This year’s PyCon: Python in Education Seminar(August 3-8) was the eighth national conference for people who use and develop in Python. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Python is a well-known and widely-used programming language. The conference took place at the Melbourne…