I was browsing Twitter the other day and came across this tweet from Bron Stuckey:

This is a true sign from a school library in Aus - backlash to #Minecraft. #Minecraft LA http://t.co/9On0J6yZ9S Reality bites! #Minecraft LA
— Bron Stuckey (@BronSt) March 20, 2015

Seeing that sign made me think about the still prevalent attitude that playing computer games is anti-social. So many people ignore the sense of community that forms when children (or adults) share a passionate interest in gaming.

Real friendships have blossomed over a shared passion for games like Minecraft. I have seen the power of connections made through games in my students, especially those who aren't part of the "cool" group. It often allows these children to be "experts" who are sought out by others. This can be pretty powerful for kids who are a bit on the outer.

As a teacher, I have used my (rather meagre) game knowledge to make connections with my students. Being able to converse with a student about Minecraft directly led to that child feeling confident and eager to include the game in their writing. For a very reluctant writer, that was pretty huge.

Of course not all libraries discourage games. Auckland Libraries run several gamer focussed activities. And who knows, maybe the kids will pick up a book or two while they are there

CS002x Programming in Scratch

I have just completed week 2 of the EDx CS002x Programming in Scratch course. I have played around a little bit in Scratch in the past but never really got a handle on it. The course has provided a structure that, for me, helps me to learn a little more easily. The videos are especially good at explaining concepts. The quizzes can be a little intrusive - I think that more hands on experimenting would be better than multi-choice questions. Having said that, I did manage to make a very simple game. I even figured out how to get the bat to fly around myself! Baby steps :)

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/49061788/#player

Hour of Code - My Robotic Friends

Having no computers was no barrier to two year 3 classes participating in the  world-wide Hour of Code* yesterday. We chose an "unplugged" activity with plenty of hands-on collaboration to (hopefully) engage the children and get them thinking. The Thinkersmith tutorial we chose included a full lesson plan which helped reduce our workload - always a bonus!

We started off the lesson (as recommended) discussing robots and how we communicate with them which led nicely on to introducing the My Robotic Friends activity. We briefly went over our goal (to stack cups a certain way) and showed the children the code we would be using. We then modelled the activity. My colleague left the room and the children and I co-constructed the code needed to make a simple stack of cups on the IWB, a child doing the recording. My colleague then came in and attempted to follow the code. It soon became clear that coders would need to write clearly!

Once we successfully completed that task, we split the children into groups of three. The "robots" (one per group, pre-chosen to save time) went into the other classroom for "training", while the "coders" stayed with me. Both the coders and robots had a set of cups to help them with their task. The coders were given one of five different cup stacks to make.

Once they had written their code, they sent for their robot who had to recreate the stack only using the code. Some groups found that they needed to send their robot away so they could adjust their code. Once successful, a new robot was chosen and the coders were given a different stack to make.

In our reflection at the end of the lesson, the children noted how important it was that the coders knew what each instruction meant, what order it needed to go in and (again) that the code was clearly written! It was a fantastic learning experience with the children thoroughly engaged and the key competencies of using language, symbols and text, thinking, managing self,  and relating to others being exercised.


* The 'Hour of Code' is a nationwide [hmm- perhaps should be world-wide!] initiative by Computer Science Education Week[csedweek.org] and Code.org [code.org] to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming.

Adobe Voice

Adobe Voice (iPad only) makes creating video slideshows that have a voice over extremely easy. After a short tutorial, I jumped straight into making my first video (not a very creative effort I'm afraid). Making the recordings was as simple as holding down a button. If you make a mistake, you simply record over in the same way. Each slide lasts for as long as your recording so there is no messy fiddling around with timelines and making cuts. Moving your slide moves the attached voice over so it is easy to keep track of things. You can add photos (your own or from the web*), icons or text. To keep things simple, there are only five layout options for a slide and you have no way to change fonts and transitions. That is all handled by the theme that you choose. That lack of choice helps you to concentrate on the content rather than the design. Music options are also limited but the app provides enough variety for most projects. This simplicity would be a real strength when using in a classroom situation. It even compiles the credits for images used in the presentation (a nice touch of digital citizenship).



What is not so classroom friendly is the requirement to share only via the Adobe Cloud. Although access seems to be free, Adobe online offerings seem neither secure enough nor reliable enough for a school to depend on. At the moment, there is no option to save a video to your device for local viewing elsewhere (although you can play it on your device using the app). There is also no option to upload to popular sharing sites such as YouTube. Having to sign into an Adobe account would be a deal breaker for many schools.
Also a potential problem is the way it sources creative commons images for the slides. It seems to rely on some kind of Google search which may return (depending on search terms) material inappropriate for the classroom. It has also been suggested that not all images it finds actually have a Creative Commons license. The app itself says that you should check the license before using an image.
If you can get past those issues, I think this would be a terrific app to use with children. They could record a book review or a piece of persuasive language. They could use it to explain their thinking on a unit of work. They could even use it to record their pepeha. Teachers could use it to make short explains videos on whatever topic they need. If you are lucky enough to have an ipad, give it a go!

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Coding with Code.org

Over the holidays I worked my way through the Introduction to Computer Science course at code.org. It seemed a very engaging way to introduce children to computer science. As a reliever, I get very limited opportunities to try out new things in the classroom so I was delighted to be able to try out this resource on a year 3 class the other day.

In this school, computers are still in the library with each class having set times for ICT. The children usually work on educational games/powerpoints/word documents etc so this was something a little different. We had been working on problem solving in maths that morning so I used that as a context for the session. I showed the children two of the introductory videos in the classroom (listening to the videos would be difficult in the computer lab). I stopped the videos and repeated parts that I thought the children might struggle with. Having worked through the course myself, I already knew some of the areas they might find tricky. Then I sorted them into buddies, gave them each a slip of paper with the URL for the site and off we went.

The levels start off very simply but the complexity does ramp up a bit once the concept of loops is introduced. I suspected that they might struggle a bit with that and most of them did. Some steamed ahead though and a few groups got up to level 9-10. What impressed me the most were how totally engaged they were in solving the puzzles. Even when they had to do a level multiple times, very few of them got discouraged. They just tried again. Having familiar contexts like Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies really helped to drive engagement too.

As well as some obvious connections to maths (particularly mapping), the code.org course connects very well to the key competencies in the NZ curriculum:

• Thinking - the children are actively problem solving, trying out their ideas, seeing what works and what needs to be changed.
• Using language, symbols and text - coding requires the children to use language in a very precise way and also to understand concepts such as "repeat".
• Managing self - the children had to learn to deal with failure and to reflect on what needed to be changed to succeed.
• Relating to others - the children worked in pairs and shared their ideas with their buddy on how to solve each puzzle.

I barely scratched the surface of the code.org course (which includes off line activities) with the children. I would love to see how the full course worked with a class.

 

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