This was a GREAT presentation! Three presenters from various museums shared their coding programs, and what worked for them. They all expressed importance in introducing coding programs in their museums and how their goal is to inspire, model, spark interest, engage, and uncover ways to include coding play in the museum moving forward.
So, what is coding?
Coding is simply a set of instructions. Instructions on telling you what to do, how to do it, when to do it.
Coding is simply just a set of instructions.
For example, Chewing Gum:
1) Take gum out of pack
2) Unwrap gum with fingers
3) Take gum into fingers
4) Dispose of wrapper
5) Lift gum to mouth
6) Chew
7) Repeat until flavor is gone or until satisfied
Coding is simply putting a set of instructions in order or in a sequence.Presenters expressed that it's a lot more easier than you think! The goal is to NOT teach computer science to children, but to inspire, introduce, and explore!
Here's a short video called "Code Stars", a short video that they presented in the program.
Isn't the video great?
Presenters expressed the difference between teaching coding programs in schools vs museums.
Since schools are more directed, focused time due to curriculum unit, and that they build on the day before, we should not mirror the same type of expectation for museums since visitors only come for a short period of time. While some curriculum may be great for some museum programs, others may not. So the goal again, is to provide a space for children to explore, inspire, and introduce coding!
The Hour of Code:
- Started by code.org, a non-profit organization and website whose goal is to encourage people to learn computer science
- Bringing computer science classes to every k-12 school in USA, especially urban and rural neighborhoods
-Increasing the representation of women and students of color
Focus for Museums to put on Coding:
- Shorter programs
- 5-15 minutes on the floor, eye catching, any age
Benefits of introducing Coding to children under 5
- Introducing new concepts
- Fine motor skills develop while utilizing different coding programs
- Visual discrimination: what are these buttons doing? what are these lights doing?
- Critical Thinking
- Pre-writing/ Reading
- Grasping skills
- Kinesthetic thinking "I have to track with my eyes"
- Expanding attention and concentration (Very new to them)
Play concepts coding brings for children
- Pattern
- Measurement
- Sorting
- Step by step instructions
- Parts of a whole
- Scientific method
- Critical thinking
- Curiosity
Marbles museum introduced some hands-on coding activities:
Build your own Bee Bot Mazes
Hardware Hack
Robot Mouse Programming
Plus Plus Pixel Play
Binary Code Bracelets
Lego Coding
More hands on coding programs can be found here:
Once you start coding in your programs, it's okay to start slow- but then you start getting into a groove, and pick up speed along the way! It builds confidence and skill building.
Next, a presenter from Children's Creativity Museum from San Francisco, CA introduced coding workshops and exhibits that worked for them!
So, you are thinking about how to turn your workshop to an exhibit... Where do you start?
First, is to find an entry point your visitors will connect with. Is it robots? Pacman? Minecraft? Whatever it is, design how you want your workshop to work, and bring in the exhibit design element into the works.
An example of a robot exhibit:
- Raised tables to code the robot on a table maze.
- You're learning about navigating a maze. Turn other tables into a dry erase board, so that kids can attach a dry erase marker to their robot and create drawings with their very own robots! May it be a square, triangle, circle.... whatever the challenge is, it is a great entry point to bring in other aspects of STEAM into your exhibit.
They expressed how important play testing is and how it exposes other students to work together and run into solutions to problems together!
They also created summer camps:
They also created summer camps:
- Opportunity for deeper learning
- Provides educators the chance to teach more advanced topics that build off the previous day's lessons
- Gives students opportunity to make more complicated objects
- Summer camps (opportunity to focus on longer programs)
- Video Game Controller
- Spirograph Art
- Create and code a mars rover
- More advanced video games
One of the coding programs that stuck out to me was their Tynker Coding workshop. This workshop includes a Green screen Kareoke studio where students can be a character in their own video game! In this case, the presenter showed us one of his student's work. His student used pictures of herself as a base, to catch objects falling off the sky. The other objects were pictures of her friends! How clever is that? You can view the short video down below.
Lastly, the presenter expressed how important it is to find a partner who will be mutually beneficial for your exhibit, as well as their business. One of the partners that they collaborated with was with Microsoft. Microsoft came to their exhibit to teach minecraft coding to their students! They also provided the tablets, and showed them step by step instructions on how to build their own minecraft! It was also beneficial for Microsoft because they also needed users to try out their new products.
Lastly, the FUN part! I got to test out one of their robots! This one was called Dash Robot! I was able to launch a ping pong ball into the air. The goal was to launch these balls into the cups, which took different test and trials with different launch power modes. It was surprisingly super easy to grasp and understand! You can launch, drive, light up, and make the robot sing! I got it to drive, launch, and say "Meow"!
This one was called Lego Wedo Robotics. Each kit comes with all the parts to build their robot using Lego pieces, and then they power up their robot with the free app that comes with the program.
Overall, a great presentation! I enjoyed the different coding programs and tools that they all had to offer!
-Megan
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