School Desk

Learning the arcana of computer coding

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Discovering that she knew how to code came as a surprise for IN-Tech student Chelsea Nolasco. 

“I was actually confused at first. I thought they were just letting us play a game,” the 11-year-old said during technology class on Feb. 26. 

“But then I saw this button here,” she said, clicking on a tab within a game on Code.org that revealed the JavaScript code behind the game moves she had chosen. 

Since September, Chelsea and her fellow middle school students have been learning how to code by watching videos and playing coding games on the website. 

Students progress through 20 stages of increasingly difficult games, many of which use blocks of code that students can drag and drop to carry out actions on a game board, or draw parts of an image. 

“You can see your progress,” Chelsea said as she worked with her friend Joyce Han, also 11, to move a bird around a board game using coded directions. 

“It actually helps you with math,” said Joyce, who explained that the two were using their knowledge of degrees and angles to move the bird around. 

For many students, the class has opened up a world of creative and career possibilities they did not know existed until this year. 

“When I grow up, I want to become a coder,” said Mohammad Leimedi, 11, who started coding for the first time in IN-Tech’s tech class.

“It’s a really interesting way to teach kids about computer science,” he said of the game. “Especially in the modern day today, because we use a lot of technology, so we really need to learn about that.”

After the middle school courses, students who attend IN-Tech for high school can continue with coding in classes like graphic design and web design. 

Digital citizens

The coding games are part of an intro to computer science module that involves 20 hours of coding. The curriculum includes a unit on “digital citizenship,” in which students learn about how to use technology — and the Internet — in appropriate and productive ways. 

IN-Tech Academy, coding, technology, Arlene Mackin-Hyland, Maya Rajamani
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