Thing 17: Coding

It's so interesting that you posted this lesson.  My Freshmen and I were just discussing why they don't want to choose the first three results that come up in Google for research without evaluating those sites for quality (affectionately known as the CRAAP test in our school).  I explained to them that the results aren't based on the quality of the site, but the algorithms and binary code produced by their search terms and the 'match' within the website for the words only so the 'match' is simply based on math, not research! 

Many of my kids are techies at heart and really love the gaming/programming stuff (they are ALL playing Flappy Birds!) so I decided to try a lesson or two off the Coding.org site with my AIS English 9 students.  These guys struggle with communicating for sure and many of them have troubles with reading and comprehension I thought looking at how computers communicate and ultimately how that's allow people to communicate (and game) would really be something they enjoy. 

I tried the 'no tech' lessons with them so that getting computers would not become an issue for our class.  In fact, we started our cup stacking lesson yesterday.  The kids loved it and we will be continuing on with the lesson as well as the Binary Baubles lesson next week.  Then I will take them in the computer lab and let them create their own game.  They are really excited about this and don't see it as English class at all!  I think it's such a plus to give them chances to experiment with this aspect of communication and allow them to learn to think about thinking! 

Thank you so much for these wonderful resources and sources of inspiration for my students!