Gamefroot & Coding Clubs

Here is the revised version below for you to try out. Today we worked with the Gamefroot peeps Dave and Dan. It was great to meet Dave in the flesh as I have followed his "Gamefroot Dave" tutorials on YouTube.

I managed to add music, text boxes, a points system and a non-playing character. My next job is to make the kiwi react if the player lands on its head, and to make the text box transparent.

Teachers from Ilminster Intermediate School and Gisborne Intermediate School have attended these game dev sessions as they are starting Coding Clubs after school this term at their schools. This is an exciting project for these two schools and one that we are looking forward to supporting. I'm sure the students whoa re keen to join this club will be zooming ahead faster than I have been able.

I wrote previously about gaming and my lack of it so I am unsure of what makes a great game and what appeals to kids. I recently came across this blog post Game Design in the classroom - 8 steps to get started. The thing that caught my eye was that step #1 is to play list of games and there is a PDF with links to online games in categories.  This would be great way to get going. Now all I need is the time!

Kumara to the Marae by Cheryl Torrie / Remix in Gamefroot

Coding - Why Teach It?

So why teach coding?  Coding is a word we hear lots in schools and is one part of the revised New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). When using the term "coding" teachers are referring to computational thinking (CT) and designing and developing digital outcomes (DDDO).

The NZC says " It's important that students have opportunities to be innovative designers and creators of digital solutions – moving beyond solely being users and consumers of digital technologies." NZC

Here is my take on why we should teach these...

1. Coding is another language. Language is about communication. Giving and receiving directions teaches communication and logical thinking. Students have to plan and organise thought then communicate them.

2. Coding teaches problem solving. This is where they go into the learning pit and not only are debugging or solving a myriad of problems, they are also learning to be resilient and to be persistent in their endeavours - see #7!

3. Coding fosters creativity. This is the gold! Students are not following a formula. They have opportunities to experiment, make mistakes, remake, add on to an original idea. 

4. Coding and maths go hand in hand. Think of Scratch and the x and y axis. Think of Scratch Jnr and using the grid to code precise movements for sprites. Think about abstract ideas and visualising. 

5. Coding assists academic performance. Students have to plan and organise their thoughts

6. It's in the New Zealand Curriculum. Was meant to be incorporated into the school's curriculum in 2020. So we should see it happening now.

7. Teachers can't smooth the path to success! Many times in classes I have seen students having to problem solve and debug, and because the teachers have very few skills if any in this area and are not able to code, teachers cannot jump in and do it for their students. I think that sometimes when coding this is the first really hard task students have had to do without teacher intervention or over-scaffolding.