Coding with Kids

How to organize a successful coding lab. A story of inclusive, fun, collaborative

learning

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A bit about me

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Azzurra Ragone

Women Techmakers Lead - Italy

Member of GDG Bari

CoderMentor @CoderDojo

Member of Matera2019 WebTeam

Problem

• How to organize a coding lab for kids which is:– Fun – Useful – Well-designed – Successful

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Fun: kids do not get bored

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Useful: kids learn the logic behind the computational thinking

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Well-designed (rules, resources & logistics)

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Successful (kids get curious & are eager to learn more)

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CD is an international network of volunteers organizing tech labs for kids (7-17 y/old) to

teach them how to code, develop apps, games and explore technology.

What’s CoderDojo?

James Whelton

Bill Liao

The first Coder Dojo was launched in 2011 in Cork

More than 600 dojos in the world

…and more than 60 in Italy

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Fun: kids do not get bored

Projects

Passion

Peer

Play

Creative learning methodology

http://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/

Projects• People learn best when actively working on projects

—generating ideas, designing prototypes, making improvements, and creating final products.

• Ex: creating a – video game, – an app– something (MakeyMakey)

http://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/

Passion

• When focusing on meaningful tasks, people work longer and harder, persist in the face of challenges, and learn more in the process.

#GDGSummit15 #GDGBarihttp://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/

Peer

• Learning flourishes as a social activity-with people sharing ideas, collaborating on projects, and building on one another's work

• Ex: – sharing code– Peer tutor

http://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/

Play

• Learning involves playful experimentation-trying new things, tinkering with materials, testing boundaries, taking risks, and iterating again and again

http://learn.media.mit.edu/lcl/

Summing up: be creative!

• Trial&Error• Do not be afraid to make mistakes• Collaboration: share pieces of code• Be curious: experiment without fear• Work on concrete problems/projects

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Useful: kids learn the logic behind the computational thinking

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CT

Loops

Parallelism

ConditionalsOperators

Data

Computational Thinking

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Well-designed (Rules, resources & logistics)

A typical coding session

Tutorial

Snack

Let’s play!

Rules&Logistics

• Mentors ratio: 1/8• Mentors should be easily identifiable (red t-shirt)• Make clear the rules at the beginning• Gesture rules:– Lift a finger for gesture– Join hands for applause

• Logistics (do a check list):– Power strips, microfone, speakers, etc.

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1. Be curious 2. Kids are competent3. Be on their side, not in front4. Doing errors is good5. Be supportive6. Don’t say no!7. Have fun!

7 golden rules for mentors

(Barbara - CoderDojo Milano)

What about parents?

• It is recommended though that parents give their young people space and freedom to express creative discovery learning (Coderdojo.org)

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Attendance Certificates & Feedback

Photo: Marco Quarta

Some feedback- I have had lots of fun and I

invented a videogame

- It’s supercool, I wanna do it again

- I have to say that I did not want to come initially, because of homework, but it has been fun. I thought it was very difficult to create a videogame, instead it was very simple and now I know what to do when I do not what to do.

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Scratch

LEGO WeDo

Makey Makey

Resources

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Or Tablets:ScratchJr (3-5 y/old)

Scratch for:LinuxMac

Windows

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Lego We Do

Makey Makey

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Successful (kids get curious & are eager to learn more)

If you mix up all the ingredients!

Resources (Bib)• CoderDojo’s Opensource Knowledge DB:

• Creative learning

• Computational thinking with Scratch

• LEGO WeDo + Scratch

• Peer tutor

• Let’s teach kids to code – TEDx Talk by Mitch Resnick

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Tools&Resources

• Scratch:• LEGO WeDo: • Makey Makey: • Made with code (lots of fun games, various levels)• Code.org (classes, tutorials, etc.)• Pencil Code Gim (Open source coding lab allowing kids to

draw, play music & create fiction)• Blockly (blocks to introduce fundamental coding concepts)• MIT app inventor (drag&drop interface to create android app

– middle school & up)• More on “Google for Education”

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European Capital of Culture 2019

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Contacts

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https://about.me/azzurraragone

google.com/+AzzurraRagone

@azzurraragone

Thanks to:

All my CoderDojo friends @CoderDojoMT, especially @Piersoft

Thanks to Nick for the #bigcoderdojo video And finally thanks to Matera2019

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