Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Hour of Code

Hour of Code

We are very excited to participate in the Hour of Code!  The Hour of Code is an opportunity for students of all ages to explore computer programming.  Our goal is to expose a large number of students to computer science and programming, and to prove that anyone can code!  I am pleased to announce that we have 11 participating classrooms and more than 200 students signed up for the event.  Students will also have an opportunity to participate from home.  Please scroll to the bottom of this blog to see a list of events taking place.

 In addition, I have provided some interesting videos and articles that touch on the importance of teaching code. Included is some interesting sound bites from Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.  
Thanks to the many teachers and students who helped make this event possible.  A special thanks to Audra Kaplan, GDRHS Technology Integration Specialist, as she was the driving force behind this event.  Well done!

Gates, Zuckerberg: Kids, learn to code

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/tech/innovation/code-video-gates-zuckerberg/index.html

Coding In High School
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/10/18/n-codecademy-high-school.cnnmoney

Hour of Code
http://csedweek.org/

Teaching Algebra with Code

Through video game design students are having fun learning algebra and coding. The curriculum is available online for free.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/12/02/bootstrap-teaches-algebra-though-computer-coding/EiA4bh6ne41Bk8PylR3atN/story.html


Technovation Challenge 

A coding competition for girls only that runs in the Spring.  Audra Kaplan, GD Technology Integration Specialists, intends to start this initiative after December break.

"Through Technovation, young women from ages 13 to 19 from all over the world identify and solve problems in their local communities by developing mobile app prototypes and business plans. They work in collaboration with local or long-distance mentors to research, design, code, and pitch their apps to prospective investors. Ten finalists come to Silicon Valley for the World Pitch competition every Spring."


Fitchburg Programming Competition (semiannual meet)
  
Last Friday, three teams from GDRHS participated in a semiannual programming competition at Fitchburg State.  All the teams performed very well.  Congratulations to the team of Ryan Leonard, John DeNyse, Nick Burnett, and Ben Navetta for placing 8th out of 42 competing teams.  We had a great day and look forward to returning on May 2, 2014 for the Spring competition.  Stay tuned for details.

Ryan Leonard
John DeNyse
Nick Burnett
Ben Navetta

Nick Odell
Dan Evans
Gregory Saraceno

David Heffernan
Liam Brown
Jesse King



Hour Of Code Information

L24 - Dumont - Scratch Holiday Card in English (teaching guide)
124 - Erickson - Hopscotch on the iPad
201 - (Greg Saraceno & Dan Evans) - Blockly - google program (activities)
209 - Spaulding - Scratch - Make a Guessing Game & More (teaching guide)
211 - Rocheleau & Kevin McCarthy (parent) - Scratch (instructor lead) or self guided Alice & Live Code (RunRev) some experienced suggested
213 - O'Connor - Hello Processing
215 - (Sage Mastakouras) - Frogger
223 - (David Heffernan & Liam Brown) - App Inventor, make an android app for your phone (teaching guide)
Library - (Not 224, we needed a bigger space) - (RJ Murray) - Scratch Holiday Card in Spanish (teaching guide)
227 - Cook - Light bot - a game to learn programming concepts
229 - (Ben Navetta) - Code Academy


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