Can you do an Hour of Code? (Spoiler Alert: yes you can)
In my cooperating teacher’s classroom, I was introduced to code.org’s “Hour of Code.” we were both blown away and inspired by the students’ progress and ability to complete the Mine Craft themed challenges that were offered in this coding challenge. I had to lean more.
I had already been introduced to visual programming language with Scratch and Tynker, but code.org takes it to a whole new level. They offer four different 20 hour courses for whole classes to complete that include unplugged activities for the students to grasp the ideas that are presented in the course, such as algorithms, sequences, loops, conditions, events and functions outside the realm of a computer. The website also tracks student success down to the block, so that I can review the different ways my students have solved an activity. How cool!
Code.org provides free face to face workshops for elementary school teachers in the United States. Since I am located in Canada, I opted for their equally comprehensive self-directed online professional development course called Teaching Computer Science Fundamentals. It was a wonderful course that included knowledge from the most well known “computer peeps” such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. If you have tried to implement computer science into your classroom or in the whole school environment, but have not exactly known where to begin, I highly recommend this course.
Here’s a link to my certificate of completion!