Kids & Programming

The Little Coder’s Predicament ...
Okay, then, children of the modern age (where we live in a world so tied together with wires that Pangaea ain’t goin’ nowhere!), you tell me if this is a predicament or not.
...


Coding Just Isn’t Accessible
... We have no shortage of new languages, but they become increasingly distanced from the populace.  ...


https://github.com/hacketyhack/hacketyhack/wiki/The-Little-Coder's-Predicament

So... Which languages and tools are best?

Check out this article: Computer Programming Resources for Kids


Hackety Hack, Kids Ruby, Logo, Scratch,  NetLogo, and more!


 

I'd add Blockly for anyone (everyone) and Bootstrap for middle schoolers, but the resources at code.org, Khan Academy's programming section, and CodeAcademy.com  are essential to anyone's list who wants to learn more about programming or help others to learn programming.

CODE.ORG

Code.org 

At first I thought this site was all about promoting "Bill Gates," and "Mark Zuckerberg," and other high-profile techies.  I didn't really give it much thought, but as momentum grew, I looked more deeply...


 

 Really? 

Looking at the code.org/stats page the "untapped opportunity" numbers leaped out at me.
"1,000,000 more jobs than students by 2020"


This made me wonder if there really is a crisis.  There certainly seems to be an opportunity, but do more kids really have to choose computer science as a major in order for these extra jobs to be filled?

Could these jobs be filled by taking an extra class in ... coding, web design, writing macros for spreadsheets...  whatever extra class would fill that need. 

OR can the right student fill an entry-level position and get on-the-job training to fill the position?

NOW I'm really interested.









I believe that no matter what kids major in, these jobs will need people who can understand some level of coding (diving into spreadsheet macro writing, creating a web page, or even writing a simple program).  The great thing about code.org is that the whole site is designed for anyone at any level.  I've seen a room full of non-technical administrators plow through the tutorials with electric enthusiasm.  They were highly motivated to tackle the code.org challenges and get those "angry birds" and zombies to the parts in the maze they needed to be without getting blown up by the TNT.

  Here is the first puzzle.  Dive in and start coding!

Building Virtual Worlds - A Model Learning Environment

Wouldn't this be a cool class to offer in any school?

http://bvw.etc.cmu.edu/

Mike McCabe

Director of Technology

The Foote School

www.footeschool.org

(203) 208-8404 (direct)

(203) 777-3464 (main)

Is it still May?

Obviously I'm not blogging as much as I'd hoped when I wrote my New Year's resolution.  I am however doing some cool stuff.  Last week I led a 3-D printing workshop...

 *****



And this week I'm working with a group of kids in an Introduction to Programming course:
https://sites.google.com/a/footeschool.org/foote-summer-2013-programming-class/home?pli=1
I even made a bitly shortcut to help us get there more quicker...
bit.ly/footeprojam

My New Year's Resolution (yes, I KNOW it's May, just give me a break already)

When I grow up I want to be a bit more like Lorri.  She blogs, tweets, and breathes academic technology. As I often point out, I'm only 29, so I have a few years before I can fully expect to benefit from the "age of experience."  I do, however, feel the need to get on the bandwagon and do some more of this stuff now. 

I mean, I went to that same conference she talks about in yet another blog post .  I took some notes and tweeted a bit (even came up with the #caistweetlyrics hash tag to inspire a writing storm of song lyrics to use during our 2014 retreat -- see image to the right), but when I look at Lorri's work, I admit I feel somewhat behind.  If backed into a corner, I'd throw some jabs about how I'm doing a lot of work on databases, budget, and project management, but I know that when I go back to my cave to lick my wounds, I would feel like I should have done more. 

I've done some sporadic things, but I'm hoping to keep it more consistent.  I'm pledging (at least for the rest of this academic year) to update this blog at least once every month with a fraction great things I've been lucky enough to witness in my work.



SCREEN SHOT OF COOL SCHOOL
COUNSELOR VISIT TRACKING
SYSTEM !!!!!

OK, I did spend a few hours today building a database to help our School Counselor track visits.
And then I hosted it online to try out a new Filemaker Hosting service, DataTrium...



So, hopefully that counts for something (even if she shoots it down and never uses it, it looks cool, right?)

And yesterday, Tony and I gave a brief summary of the workshop to a few key administrators.  I even showed how I could display timely, insightful, and lively information on any of our classrooms using the reflector app that Dirk introduced to us in the workshop.






 Tony was worried that they didn't ask enough questions after our brief presentation.  I said not to worry however.  We blew it out of the water by being succinct, direct and by inserting pertinent information at just the right moments, so they got just what they needed and were too blown away to ask questions.  

By the way.  I didn't ask Stephen Colbert if I could use that image, but if any of you know him and could put me in touch with him so I can ask about using it, that would be really great.  I think he and I would connect because we think a lot alike and so we could exchange ideas and stuff...