Kindergartners at Westwood Elementary are huddled around the smart board, anxiously waiting to hear what Ms. (Angie) Kalthoff is going to say about the Hour of Code. They know they are learning something new, but are not sure what it is.
The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching millions of students in over 180 countries to teach them about computer science and technology.
“We’re going to learn a new word today. Algorithm,” begins Kalthoff, who is a technology integrationist for the St. Cloud Area School District.
“An algorithm is a list of steps you can follow to finish a task,” says Kalthoff. “Can all of you tell me how I can get to the sink?”
The students shout out directions like “take a right”, “go left”, “back up”, “move forward” and so forth. Kalthoff eventually gets to the sink and points out that they were giving her directions, and by doing so, were writing an algorithm.
She continues, “Do we sometimes have to put things in order though? Otherwise they may not make sense.”
The lesson plan: getting ready in the morning. There are several things listed on the board such as: get out of bed, eat breakfast, make your bed, get dressed, brush your teeth and get on the bus. The kids have to arrange the order in which each task must be complete. She demonstrates that you can’t eat breakfast before getting out of bed.
After the students figure out the order for getting ready in the morning, they are paired and given the task of arranging arrows on a paper to show which direction “Flurb”(a furry looking creature) goes to get to the fruit. In essence, they are writing an algorithm and programming with paper and glue sticks.
“We keep the coding as basic as we can for the students to start. They learn the basic concepts on paper before we move them to iPads or Chromebooks,” says Kalthoff.
It’s not just kindergartners that start with paper. Fourth graders from Oak Hill Community School take what they learn about algorithms and create programs.
“Today we are going to build a paper airplane using an algorithm,” states Kalthoff.
Kalthoff explains that the students will pair up because today’s real-world computer programming is done in pairs, called pair programming. It’s used at major corporations such as Google and Firefox as well as gaming companies.
The pairs will arrange the images of folded paper in the correct order to create their airplane. The proof that the algorithm is a success is that the airplane will fly when complete.
Alexis Clark, an Oak Hill student, raises her hand and asks, “Should you lay them in order to try it first, before you glue them down on the paper?”
“That’s a great strategy to work out with your partner. You may need to try a different order for it to work,” replies Kalthoff.
While working on their algorithm Julia Christman, asks her partner Allie Gulstrand, “Are we going to know if that is for sure right?”
Gulstrand replies, “Let’s try it!”
The product is a plane that successfully flies across the room.
The same concept is used when creating games. Middle school students at Riverwoods are creating a bird game on iPads. But first, they must learn to debug their program.
Debugging (finding and fixing problems) is a term that comes from a computer malfunction back in 1940. When the computer was taken apart, the technician found a dead moth. Once it was removed, the computer functioned perfectly. Hence, the term debug.
Again, using paper, the students have to debug the blocks in their programs. The catch- the paired students aren’t allowed to speak to one another.
When finished, Kalthoff asks, “What would you have changed about how you did this exercise?”
The kids reply, “We’d talk to each other!”
“We’re going to take what we’ve learned so far and apply it to our iPads,” says Kalthoff. “In your pairs, each of you will be a navigator or a driver and will switch rolls often.”
Drivers and navigators are terms computer programmers use in pair programming. The driver is the person in control of the computer, using the mousepad and keyboard. The navigator is the person giving directions to the driver for coding. They switch roles frequently to catch mistakes and enhance creativity.
Students quickly learn that communicating with each other is the key to creating the game and to debug any mistakes along the way. They engage with each other while creating the game- figuring out how to get the bird’s wings to fly, how to move the bird up and down, play sounds and change the speed.
“This is awesome! Do we get to do this at home too?” asks Eli Reinhart.
Kalthoff assures each student that they’ve been given an ID code. They can log on and continue coding on the website whenever they like. The goal is to get as many kids interested and wanting to learn more about computer science as possible.
Reinhart, along with many other enthusiastic students, will continue coding and perhaps become our next generation of imaginative coders.