I headed to Unionville elementary to work on some computer science concepts with the 4th grade. We had 4 days of about 45 minutes each. Day 1 & 2 were screen free, then 3 & 4 were with iPads.
We started with “graph paper” programming and how you would instruct someone to shade in the blocks as you have done (2 example grids)
Students used words. We got to talk about being very specific in directions, including making sure everyone knew the starting point . Some used the word “diagonal”, one labeled it like a spreadsheet (A,B,C,D across the top) and gave instructions like “shade A2, B1” , but forgot to tell us where 1 & 2 were. Then we stepped to using symbols instead of words, arrows in particular. They made their own and swapped instructions with a neighbor. The final exercise was a larger grid with Little Red Riding Hood, Grandmas house, and lots of wolves. They were to give directions for the shortest path.
{Graph Paper Programming ; Rescue Mission}
Day two we worked on binary alphabet, starting with changing the alphabet to numbers (1-26) and writing our name “in code”. We talked about ways that you could change that code, then what would we use for capital letters and numbers and punctuation. A few said to jump to 100’s for capital and 200’s for numbers and punctuation. One said to bold the numbers for capital, another said to write the number twice for capitals. We did have to talk about spacing so that we know what number is written : 1253 is very different from 1 25 3 or 12 5 3. We talked about our number system being “decimal” because we have 10 digits and some already knew about binary being for computers. We had examples of binary ideas, like yin & yang or the braille system or an electrical switch being on & off, which was a good segue to computers & binary. They wrote their name in binary then decoded a message on the handout…so we got to talk about the difference between “HELLO” and “hello”
We did not have time for them to use shapes and color for their initials, like binary bracelets
{binary alphabet}
Day 3 had us utilizing a scratch type of coding website to make designs (Playground MIT). They choose a new sprite, made it smaller, then code the “pen” blocks from the extensions. I made the silly mistake of having them use “when space bar is pressed” as an event trigger to clear the space and recenter – there is no space bar on an iPad. But it works if you just tap the code. I wanted them to have the sprite draw some shapes, starting with a square. Some took a while to grasp the idea that they needed more instructions in their code(more move & turn blocks), even though we physically did it – they told me how to walk in a square. I should have front loaded with more free play “make some designs” before getting to very specific shapes. Some jsut kept pushing the green flag to make a square or to make other designs. Their mind was blown when we grabbed the “repeat” block.
{Playground MIT art}
Day 4 was micro:bits and makecode. They had already done some work with micro:bits. I don’t love using an iPad and a micro:bit. The constant “pairing” to download new code, and some don’t want to pair…
I brought neopixel strips for them to light up. Yes, there was some difficulty in figuring out how to connect them to the micro:bit. There are many ways it can go wrong…. GND not connected to GND, Pin1 connected but code said Pin0. Sometimes in planning big things I forget the little things, like kids have never connected wires before. I need to figure out a better way to show them – whole class demonstration didnt work. Maybe bring one person from each group together and small group them. We eventually got everyone connected correctly. Luckily we could go over our time in order to get everyone successful at lighting up some lights.
{micro:bit intro}
I hope to be going back this year to build on what we have started.
Maybe we can gt them to design snowflakes in code, laser or 3D print them, then code lights for them….
