northeast_technician Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Hey guys, our ICT coordinator in our school has come up with the idea of running a coding club (in an attempt to gain browny points with ofsted) only problem is she knows nothing about coding so looks like it going to be down to me to come up with something and train some staff. Just wondering what other schools are doing if anything as I could do with some help and advise on this. Any suggestions would be grateful. Just to let you know we are a primary school of mostly SEN so nothing too complex. Many thanks in advance.
LeMarchand Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 They're using Scratch at one of my schools with some success.
hardtailstar Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 We use scratch and kodu, our teachers seemed to have picked it up a bit. although we don't have a coding club, there is a time table for kids to use the IT suite at lunch to do work or play on the educational games we have.
Joanne Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 as above, scratch kodu and espresso coding. Espresso is great for KS1.
northeast_technician Posted October 10, 2014 Author Posted October 10, 2014 do they look at coding anything in particular to make software etc or is it more moving something from a to b type of thing?
CamelMan Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Again scratch here - with Python. Theres a load of websites that can help (codeacadamy off the top of my head) that people have posted here previously. I'd send them this information and leave them too it, otherwise you'll do all the work and they take all the credit!
northeast_technician Posted October 10, 2014 Author Posted October 10, 2014 Again scratch here - with Python. I'd send them this information and leave them too it, otherwise you'll do all the work and they take all the credit! isnt that just a general teacher vs ict support staff thing though?
LeMarchand Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 They also tried Kodu, but it wouldn't run on the GFX cards. The kids like playing around with the MakeyMakey, but I'm unconvinced that it's been used for coding. They also did some work on Raspberry Pis but I haven't seen them of late.
smidsy Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 This is something that I am trying to do with our children as well but so far struggling to get decent numbers. We were looking at starting with using some hour of code website tasks. * Light Bot - Lightbot * Maze Games - Code.org - The Maze #1 * Flappy Bird Game Design -http://learn.code.org/s/6/level/158 We have done the maze games with the children last year and they enjoyed it pretty quickly. Probably going to aim the club at KS2. 2
LeMarchand Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Might be worth getting teacher to contact local Uni. There's a lady who comes in from a local establishment to help. TBH, I try to stay clear of ours as while the staff are doing a great job with the kids, they can never be bothered to spend any time with me to explain how they would like me to help - so if I do show up it tends to be a waste of my time. Mind you, I'm not great with kids. Maybe I'm in the wrong sector...
kaphc Posted October 10, 2014 Posted October 10, 2014 Have a look at Code Club | Home - register for a club and you can access all the resources, from an after-school club register to comprehensive instructions for coding activities in Scratch, Python, Html and CSS. 1
HarrisonJones Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 we used Esspresso Coding to get them used to what coding is then showed them HTML 5.0 in dreamweaver to design and create their own website
witch Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) Contact STEM and you can access professionals who will come and help with code clubs and everything. Stemnet | Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network You can get a STEM ambassador such as mrwITch or a STEM facilitator who are often local uni students. I am not sure why people don't know about this - it is absolutely ideal for schools with little or no tech knowledge. It is great for Science and Maths too. We have had a retired guy come in and run a code club as well as grads from Siemens come and do demonstrations etc. It's all free, too! Edited October 15, 2014 by witch
DanPTL Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 At our kids' school we went for Code Club, as suggested above. They have a database of able volunteers and match them with the schools. This ran for three terms at our school mainly with KS2 and it was almost all Scratch based work. They provide lesson plans and the kids can move on to HTML (is that really programming?) and, I think, Python. We're in Cambridge, so unsurprisingly there was no shortage of volunteers This year, the school is running a Minecraft Edu club instead, that I'm helping out with (I'm a parent/governor not a member of staff). Other resources that may be of use: Computing at Schools who helped push 'computing' back on to the curriculum I think. Raspberry Pi teaching resources. May be useful for teaching (eg Python) without Pis. OCR's Computing MOOC was recommend by my daughter's (secondary) computing teacher.
LosOjos Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 (edited) we used Esspresso Coding to get them used to what coding is then showed them HTML 5.0 in dreamweaver to design and create their own website Be careful there - lots of the Computer Science curriculum is about understanding how to solve problems using algorithms, a task which programming lends itself naturally to. HTML is a markup language, not a programming language. This matters because it's simply not possible to write an algorithm in HTML, which could cause you problems later on in the curriculum. Something like Scratch is great because it teaches the building blocks of programming without really having to worry about syntax (OK, you do need to understand why anything after an infinite loop will never run, but how you structure that loop is pretty much handled for you by Scratch's UI). Once you get them to understand that, then you can get them problem solving i.e. developing algorithms Edited October 15, 2014 by LosOjos
kaphc Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 There are a lot of activities which can be delivered "unplugged" as well, e.g. search algorithms, sorting algorithms etc. Coding has taken the headlines for the new curriculum, but underlying concept which pulls all the curriculum together is Computational Thinking. A lot of the skills for this are learned through coding but also through teamwork, activities and challenges as well.
mikeyd101 Posted October 15, 2014 Posted October 15, 2014 Another vote for code.org. I'm using it to run a technology club twice a week at junior high, kids seem to love it, I also talk to them about what there trying to learn "computational thinking". But getting any retention in our kids is amazing. Also code.org gives a nice grouping / teacher overview resource so you can see where all the kids are. We also have used scratch, codecombat and khan academy as progression / High School level. Currently Coding/ Technologies isn't in the curriculum only Microsoft office, keyboarding and digital citizenship. I have a software development background and trying to get the main fundamentals in place, Algorithms (step by step processing), loops, conditions and variables.
DanPTL Posted October 16, 2014 Posted October 16, 2014 Just saw this on Twitter too... Events for Teachers 1
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