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Inside the Tools that Teach Coding to Little Kids

Tech tools for helping K-12 schools create a curriculum for teaching coding to their students are widely available, free, and fun.

July 30, 2015 TD Staff Leave a Comment

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ScratchJr

With ScratchJr, kids aged 5-7 can program their own interactive stories and games.

Tynker

Tynker says it offers an easy-to-learn, visual programming course.

Kodable

Kodable says it can help students learn the basics of computer programming in as little as 20 minutes a week and offers a Pilot Kodable for free.

Code Academy

Code Academy says it thinks about education and teaching coding from the bottom up.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a tool for inside and outside of the classroom, tackling topics including computer programming.

Through the project based learning offered by NICERC, students can learn to apply the basics of math and science in combination with communication skills and create impressive and authentic innovations.  Students collaborate interactively with their intellect and their hands in order to build engines and cars using a micro-controller.

First Steps for Educators

All of this sounds amazing for the kids, but can feel intimidating for educators. For teachers who have no idea where to begin, “Start with a project,” Cazes advises. “Don’t try to consume the entire elephant in one bite. There are different levels for different teachers of different capabilities. There is also professional development and training.”

Whether a single teacher is looking to integrate a project into the curriculum or there is a statewide initiative to bring coding into the classroom, Cazes says, “We are here to help. We can help guide or connect—we are sort of a repository for all things cyber.”

Related: Why Students Should Code and How to Get Started

Because the goal is “building cyber citizens,” Cazes says, “we are giving projects that will help teachers teach in a new way to engage students. They should use the projects to drive learning, and we use cyber as a way to do that.”

TechSmith is another resource teachers can use for help with the challenges of bringing technology into the K-12 classroom. Instructional technology specialist at Valparaiso Community Schools, Olga Granat, a TechSmith customer who participated in The Hour of Code, says, “Coding K-12 is about creative thinking, collaboration, team work, challenge, and communication. For teachers, they don’t need to be a coder to have fun. It’s about learning with the kids.”

Teachers should get acquainted with as many coding resources as possible, Granat adds. “There are all kinds of resources. With many of them, you can create a free account. The tools have tutorials and you can either learn it yourself or depending on your style of teaching you can learn it together with the kids.”

And the connections to different disciplines evolve as students advance in their understanding of programming. “Python is more text based so that the kids that have used Scratch and have the foundation can now talk about the important of the period at end of sentence,” Granat says.

What’s great about so many of these resources is that they are free. ”Scratch Jr.,  Code Academy, Khan Academy, there are tons of things that are free.  The free ones are phenomenal,” Granat says.

Kacy Zurkus is a Lowell, Mass.-based freelance writer.

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Tagged With: K12, STEM

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