Coding Activities and eTwinning

Ready, Steady, Let's Code!

I was always fascinated by how software applications work, and what makes them 'tick'. Growing up in the late 70's and early 80's,  computers weren't as readily available, accessible and affordable as they are today. In the mid-eighties, I managed to get my hands (courtesy of my father, of course) on my very first PC, the ZX Spectrum +. I was immediately intrigued on how this little piece of plastic was able to conjure such incredible (read 8-bit, 16 colour) graphics and sounds (read mono and fuzzy squeaks coming out of the tiny built in speakers). And I wanted to know how.

Unfortunately Computer Studies per se wasn't being offered as a subject at my secondary school (Sandhurst Junior Lyceum, now St. Clare College Secondary). Rather annoyingly there were certain boys' schools were they had tentatively started broaching the topic, but in our case it was not an option. So I read every book I could lay my hands upon, starting writing some code and lo and behold, some of the stuff I wrote did actually work! I learned Basic and Machine Code as well as Sinclair Basic which was slightly different than 'regular' Basic. I managed to sit for the Oxford GCE and passed at the age of fifteen.

Since then I tried my hand at HTML and Flash, designing (now obsolete of course) websites for schools during the time (2006-2009) when I was engaged as an ICT Learning Teacher with the CMeLD.

Fast forward a couple of years, to 2012, when I got my first iPad. And I started to download my very first coding apps. That's when I realised that, in the couple of years I had been looking elsewhere, coding had suddenly got very cool. Very cool indeed.

Nowadays both on iOS and on Android online stores one can find a myriad of excellent coding applications, suitable for all ages and abilities. There are simple 'maze' type applications such as Kodable and the Bee Bots app, and more complex apps (complete with coding blocks and real coding terms) such as Scratch, Tynker and Hopscotch. Then there are the 'game' type apps but which still require a degree of coding skills - such as A.L.E.X and Lightbot. Most of them free, some of them cross-platform, all totally suitable to instil coding skills.

   

One of the great things about my work is that as soon as I learn something new I can disseminate the information and share my knowledge with other teachers. And so I did. Since 2012 we have organised a number of seminars including a 2 day workshop on coding and tablets; two online webinars presented by me and attended by teachers in both Malta and Europe; a Multilateral seminar in Tallinn where I was proud to present coding applications to fellow eTwinners as well as Ms. Anne Gilleran, Pedagogical Manager of the eTwinning Central Support Service...Each and every time I present Coding to teachers, I end up learning something more myself about the topic - which is so enriching in itself.

eTwinning has also supported a good number of projects which introduced Coding activities to the participating students, including in Hamrun Primary GP as well as St. Margaret College Boys' Secondary. We also participate regularly in Code Week.

Here I am sharing a presentation which I created and which I use as the base for introducing coding to teachers. I liken coding to collaborative storytelling: a group of children come up with the 'plot' and the 'story board', another group of children can 'code' and prepare the game/activity, and finally another group goes through the code to 'de-bug' and 'fix' any errors in the code.

Coding in the classroom.key from Amanda Debattista

I will now conclude with one of my favourite videos, that of a primary school teacher teaching students how to code by....making a sandwich! Very inspirational and I must credit this teacher for making me realise how coding can be such a fun activity in class.