From gaming to programming - CodeWeek

The students took part in the European Code Week. In the period from 7 to 11 October, various activities aimed at developing students' interest in programming, as well as considering the importance of ICT in modern human life and their training for creative, productive, purposeful, but above all safe use of ICT, took place.

In a series of play activities, in addition to coding, students also developed movement and orientation skills, planning and executing movements through various off square grids.

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"Catch the Rabbit" was the first game through which students were introduced to the general notion of programming, in terms of devising, or planning (programming) the steps to be taken in order for all "rabbits" to be picked up.Initially, they had the condition to pick up all the "rabbits" in the form of rabbit jumps through a square field, and then to do so by planning and performing the least number of steps (jumps). Prior to the performance, students were required to write down the planned steps (jumps) in which the teachers assisted them.

"How does a computer's eyes see the image?" was given as a break from the previous day. The students drew “ixes” in a square grid in different colors or completely colored the quattro fields, to obtain an image identical to the one given. (Pixel Art)

Computer Programming - At the beginning of the activity, we went back to the game with "rabbits", but with the difference that students now planned their steps by placing magnetic cards with sticky arrows ("adding blocks in linear code").

After that, we went over to the computer. Code.org is a great platform for learning programming from the youngest age. Students experience these exercises as "playing games", which may be conditioned by rich audio and visual effects. Knowing the students and their abilities, the teacher determined the levels for learning on the platform. Some students worked at the 4th level of the platform, and some at the 10th level.

"Hidden Sweets" - Students, using a QR code scanner application on their teacher's phone, were tasked wаs discovering the "secret hiding place" of hidden sweets.Previously, the teacher installed sticky QR codes at various locations in the institution, which revealed images of the school yard (Print Screen satellite image of the Googl Maps school building) with the location of the next QR code, that is, the required "secret" location. After completing the assignment, while enjoying the prize, the students independently found codes on their notebooks, in their books and other subjects in the environment, so that they understood the importance of the existence of codes on different subjects and their purpose, that is, how through one computer-generated picture, they can to come up with different, often meaningful information about the products they use in their daily lives.

On the last day of Code Week, students created a game called "Let's Save the Planet" in Scratch with a teacher, which you can watch and play for yourself through the link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/336659875