Web Based Site #10 - Crack the Code
Crack the Code
Last week's post was about a reading site for kids. The site is the kid's version of Goodreads, where students can track their own and their friends reading, while also getting recommendations from both teachers and parents. Although it is not a true game, there were challenges that students can complete to earn badges and can even challenge their friends. This week, I would like to go back to another game type site that students can play on. In the library setting, we discuss a lot about using computers and how to create the things that they create. Well, in order to create these projects, there must be a foundation to do so within the computer. This is where students can learn to crack the code and learn about coding. In essence, coding is computer programming or giving instructions to a computer so it knows what to do and when to do it. A prime example of this is video games. Programming tells the characters what to do and say and when. The site this week, Code, is an introduction for students to learn how to do this programming. Many of you might have heard of this site before. Does your school district have a program called Hour of Code? Well this is the site. If you haven't heard about it, let me tell you about it!
When you are on the site, you will see a list of tabs on the top left of the screen (learn, teach, district, etc.) and you will see 4 boxes that are labeled students, educators, parents, district. As a student, click on either the learn tab or student box. After, click on the age group that the student would fit under. Though, depending on the age, the games will be different, the set up is the same. The first thing to appear on the screen is the Hour of Code that many of you might be familiar with. This will take you to all the games that are in this section. Here, there are tutorials that are given to tell kids what they have to do in order to complete the challenge. We want to remind students that we want to use the least amount of steps, or code, as possible. The less code, the less mistakes. If you scroll down a little more, there are options to make your own apps, games, websites, and more. This is where students can try and create their own apps and games using code.
Going back to the hour of code tab, once you click it, students are given six different options. For the purposes of this blog, lets use the Minecraft game, because as we know our students love Minecraft. There are a few different scenarios that students can chose from, but lets pick the first one which is Minecraft: Voyage Aquatic. Click on explore curriculum and it will take you to a page that shows a box that says Lesson 1 with a description. In that same box, you are going to click on the circle 1. This will start the activity. A video will play to explain the story line and how you are supposed to code. The game will begin. Select your character and then it will get you started. On the top of the black screen, there will be instructions that will tell you what the objective of the level is. As the levels progress, it will get harder. The boxes will turn two shades of green also. Both mean you completed the level, however, the light green means you could have done it with less code and the dark green means you did it right. If you were to go back to the beginning, with the list of six different activities, there is another option - Explore all Hour of Code activities (if you scroll down a little bit). By clicking on this box, students can filter through the list based on topic, grade, length, accessibility, and language (blocks, typing, other). This is where students can find all the games that Hour of Code offers.
The best part of this site is that you do not necessary need an account. A lot of the activities allow you to try them out without an account, but signing in does allow students and even you to save your progress and courses. As a teacher, you are able to create classroom and assign students to your classroom. This allows you to keep track of your students progress in the different activities. Having an account also allows teachers to create their own lessons and activities. For students, they are able to go back to the activity that they were on, instead of starting from scratch if they had an account. Code.org is a site that every student should try as it can get them interested in a career they never knew existed and find a new hobby they might have never knew liked.
Here is the link for the site and don't forget to let me know what you think about it!
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