{"id":106,"date":"2016-12-20T20:19:01","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T20:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/?p=106"},"modified":"2016-12-20T20:24:06","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T20:24:06","slug":"inquiring-into-coding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/2016\/12\/20\/inquiring-into-coding\/","title":{"rendered":"Inquiring into Coding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In grade 4 we have been creating animations using\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Scratch Jr <\/a>for the past 3\u00a0lessons.<br \/>\n<a title=\"Computational thinking we hope to teach\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/learningissocial\/31397513380\/in\/dateposted-public\/\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/c5.staticflickr.com\/1\/624\/31397513380_613b2cd8c1_n.jpg\" alt=\"Computational thinking we hope to teach\" width=\"320\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Day 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I explained a little bit about start blocks, motion blocks, etc. and the students explored and created whatever they wanted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Day 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I printed off\u00a0some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/teach.html\" target=\"_blank\">Scratch Jr task cards<\/a> and students\u00a0worked in table groups to ensure everyone could complete the task. By completing the tasks, students learned how to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>adjust speed of motions (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/activities\/card03-race.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Run a Race activity<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>make objects appear\/ disappear (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/activities\/card06-sun.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Sunset<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>change from one scene to another (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/activities\/card07-moon.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Moonrise after Sunset<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>use loops (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/activities\/card04-dribble.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Dribble a Basketball<\/a>), make objects appear to move further away by becoming smaller and seem more lifelike by creating smaller and smaller bounces<\/li>\n<li>use envelope to send message from one character to another (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/activities\/card08-greet.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Meet and Greet<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scratchjr.org\/activities\/card09-talk.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Conversation<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Day 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the Hour of Code,\u00a0I found this video by\u00a0<a class=\"g-hovercard yt-uix-sessionlink spf-link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCRJZfuYii4n3pjn9-Ft_6Ug\">Philip Bagge<\/a>\u00a0and created his game on my iPad. I connected my iPad to the class projector and played the game below in full screen mode so that students couldn&#8217;t see the code behind it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Moving Game using Scratch Jr\" width=\"635\" height=\"476\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HMoWiaW182E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nStill without showing them the code, I tasked the students with re-creating the game. There were so many &#8220;lightbulb moments&#8221; that were clearly visible as students went from not knowing to knowing. I wish I had a camera with me to capture those exact moments of their joy of learning.<\/p>\n<p>As I reflected on this most recent lesson, I tried to unpack what it was that made it so successful:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>students had a little background information and some skills upon which to build<\/li>\n<li>there was an achievable challenge and I could provide clues\/ scaffolding for those who struggled before they became frustrated<\/li>\n<li>students who wanted to use different obstacles or flying objects were given the leeway to do so<\/li>\n<li>the only &#8216;pressure to perform came from successfully meeting the challenge &#8211; not a test or a grade<\/li>\n<li>it was fun &#8211; they were creating a game in class!<\/li>\n<li>when one person figured out how to do something they eagerly shared with others who were less sure &#8211;\u00a0there was a camaraderie in ensuring that everyone was able to\u00a0succeed<\/li>\n<li>they learned how to do something they could apply to new situations &#8211; when they learned of my plan to create games for their Kindergarten Learning Buddies\u00a0they were very excited<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It seems to me that we should try to achieve this type of learning in other areas as well. In general:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>build on prior knowledge<\/li>\n<li>differentiate support<\/li>\n<li>offer an element student choice<\/li>\n<li>work collaboratively<\/li>\n<li>allow students to iterate and tinker with their work until it is just the way they\u00a0want it<\/li>\n<li>apply learning to new tasks\/ take action<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In grade 4 we have been creating animations using\u00a0Scratch Jr for the past 3\u00a0lessons. Day 1 I explained a little bit about start blocks, motion blocks, etc. and the students explored and created whatever they wanted. Day 2 I printed off\u00a0some Scratch Jr task cards and students\u00a0worked in table groups to ensure everyone could complete [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,11,12],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classroom-reflections","tag-inquiry","tag-pedagogy","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions\/113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/larajensen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}