VISTA DAEP

The students in the Coding ROCKS! class in GCISD’s Summer Enrichment may have just completed kindergarten through third grade, but they are proving that they are tech savvy and eager to learn more when it comes to coding.

“Coding is basically adding a number of steps to tell a robot or a computer what to do,” said Aidan Monhollen, an incoming second grader at Glenhope and one of the students in the week-long class.

Teacher Tiffani Griffard said that the goal is to “foster a love of computer science and coding.”

To help students understand sequencing and looping in coding, each day begins with what is called an “unplugged” activity, such as creating bracelets with their initials using binary code or writing down the steps to build a paper airplane, which another one of their classmates has to be able to follow.

After the unplugged activity, students then participated in hands-on activities with any of the five types of robots in the class.

Soon-to-be Glenhope second grader Everly Schalekamp was working on her iPad and demonstrated how she was getting her robot to follow instructions using Blockly, a drag-and-drop visual programming app.

“You use this part and drag it around and then Blockly will make a little code that will move the robot,” she explained.

Schalekamp could also describe the concept of coding in simple terms.

“I do basketball and basically your brain gives you code to do things like shoot or dribble the ball,” she said “It’s the same thing as getting machines to do things.”

She also had some advice for students who might be considering coding.

“I would say just try it. You might love it.”