Some Useful Tutorials to Introduce Students to The Basics of coding

November 3, 2015
Code Studio offers some great free courses created by Code.org to help students learn coding. We spent sometime going through the different tutorials provided there and found them really helpful especially for beginners starting to learn the basics of coding and computer science. These can be great resources to use in class to introduce students to the world of programming. These tutorials include  interactive games and puzzles that walk learners through the different processes of using codes creatively.  Here are some examples :

Hour of Code
This uses a visual programming language called Blockly which allows students to drag and drop blocks to write code. Students will get to learn the foundations of computer science, concepts which are used anywhere from making apps to controlling the Mars rover.

Frozen
In this game, learners use code to join Anna and Elsa as they explore the magic and beauty of ice. They create snowflakes and patterns as they ice skate and make a winter wonderland that they can then share with their friends. In so doing, students get to learn the basics of how to code.

Infinity Play Lab
Students use Play Lab to create a story or game starring Disney Infinity characters.

Flappy Code
Using Flappy Code tutorial, students will get to learn how to write their own game in less than 10 minutes.

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Google Released This Wonderful Documentary to Inspire Students to Learn Coding

November 2, 2015
CodeGirl is an inspiring documentary realized by Google’s Made with Code initiative in partnership with the renowned documentarian and filmmaker Lesley Chilcott. The movie features stories of high school girls from all around the globe as they use their coding skills to design a mobile app that solves a problem in their own community. The winning team gets $10K to complete their app.

CodeGirl is a great documentary movie to share with students and inspire them to start learning coding. Students will get to watch the endless possibilities coding opens for improving everyday life. They will see how Moldovan girls developed an app to help local people test the quality of their water and how another team of coders from Mexico used the power of codes to design an app to help girls suffering from domestic violence.

CodeGirl is part of the Technovation Challenge which aims at empowering girls worldwide to develop apps for an international competition. ‘Every year, Technovation challenges girls all over the world to build a mobile app that will address a community problem. Since 2010, nearly 5,000 girls from 30 countries have submitted to Technovation, thanks to dedicated volunteers around the world. Girls do not need to have programming experience to participate, and Technovation is free for any girl who wants to participate.’

Courtesy of The Next Web

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Tynker- A Wonderful App for Teaching Students Coding and Programming Skills

July 16 , 2015
Tynker is an excellent website for teaching students coding. Students will get to learn the fundamentals of coding and programming through game-like puzzles, tutorials, stories and several interactive activities. Tynker also provides a wide variety of educational resources for teachers and educators.  Some of these include: ready-to-use , grade specific lesson plans,  STEM project templates that integrate coding across the curriculum, automatic assessment and powerful tracking tools for a better classroom management and many more.

Tynker’s Hour of Code activities is another wonderful resource designed specifically to teach students computational thinking and the basics of computer programming via a wide variety of activities. To use Tynker in their class, teachers are not required to have any coding experience or training. The site’s self-paced curriculum is developed in such a way to help students get started on their own.

Tynker is available for Android and iPad.

Watch the video below to learn more about what students can create with Tynker

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Two New Resources On Coding for Teachers

March 14, 2015
Coding is becoming one of the essential literacies in the 21st century education. There is a growing demand now for teaching students how to code. In his wonderful TED talk titled "Let's teach kids to code", Scientist Mitch Resnick made this beautiful analogy: "When kids learn to code , it enables them to learn many other things, opens up many new opportunities for learning. It's useful to make an analogy to reading and writing, when you learn to read and write it opens up opportunities for you to learn so many other things, when you learn to read you can then read to learn, which is the same thing with coding, if you learn to code you can code to learn."

In addition to the various sources we have been compiling in the coding section here in this blog, we are also sharing with you these two new articles packed full of great resources to help in the teaching and learning of coding:

1- Top 10 Ways to Teach Yourself to Code

In this article shared on lifehacker, Melanie provides 10 interesting tips together with some handy resources to help you learn programming. The resources include a compilation of books on coding, kids app for coding, courses on coding and many more.

2- The Coding Language Course Roundup

This is a newly published post by The Next Web where they featured a variety of courses and tutorials to help you learn coding and improve your programming skills. However, these courses are not free and they range between $39 and $49.

Screenshot taken from Scratch

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Get 500 Free Books on Coding

February 27, 2015
Coding is one of the most demanded skills in the 21st century learning. There is a growing need for teaching students the fundamentals of coding and computer programming not only because these are the skills needed for the future job market but also because coding allows learners to better understand their digitally focused life and therefore enhance their interaction with digital media.

We have already featured a plethora of interesting resources, apps, and tools  that teachers and parents can draw on to introduce coding to their kids  and today we are sharing with you another important resource we learned from Life Hacker. The popular GitHub has compiled this excellent list comprising more than 500 free books on programming and coding. The books cover different  topics from programming languages to software architecture.

We thought you might want to have a browse through this list and see if anything grabs your eye. Enjoy

Photo by Johan Sonin

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Excellent Free Resources from Google to Teach Kids Coding and Computer Science

February 23, 2015
Google Computer Science First is a free program launched by Google in 2013 to help students enhance their computer science education through a variety of after-school, in-school, and summer programs. All clubs are run by teachers and volunteers. The materials provided by Google CS First are free and available online and each of these materials include lesson plans to help you use them with your students.  These materials include:

1- Music and Sound

Play musical notes, create a music video, and build an interactive music display. Learn how programming is used to create music. Check out lesson plans.

2- Fashion and Design

Learn how computer science and technology are used in the fashion industry while building fashion-themed programs, like: a fashion walk, a stylist tool, and a pattern maker. Check out lesson plans.

3- Storytelling

Use computer science to tell fun and interactive stories. Storytelling emphasizes creativity, with club members telling a unique story each day. Check out lesson plans.

4- Art

Create animations, interactive artwork, photograph filters, and other exciting, artistic projects. Check out lesson plans.

5- Friends

Create projects for a friend! Students are encouraged to sign up with a friend or make a new friend in the club! Projects include things like: telling the story of how the friendship started, making a cooperative game and imagining a company together. Check out lesson plans.

6- Game Design

Learn basic video game coding concepts by making different types of games, like: racing, platform, launching and more! Check out lesson plans.

No computer science experience is necessary to host or volunteer. CS First provides all the training and materials you need to successfully run and lead a CS First club. All training and materials are free and available online. If you are hosting a club in the United States, you can also request materials at no cost to you. Click here to get started.

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