What’s Happening in the Homerooms with Second Grade Creative Computing?
“Big problems are just lots of little problems stuck together,” thinks Ruby.
“Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding.”
Several years ago when I was asked to come up with a computer science curriculum for Grade 2, lots of hands-on activities with limited, if any, use of devices was important to everyone involved. My hope was that these activities would highlight the habits of mind that lead to the creative problem solving that helps students learn to code.
Just about the same time as I began working on this new project, Linda Liukas wrote “Hello Ruby.” This delightful picture book about a girl who solves problems with the mindset of a computer scientist became my go-to text.
The activities the Grade two students engage in their homerooms, in conjunction with “Hello Ruby” are designed to help students understand the importance of step by step instructions, finding patterns, focusing in on the most important details, and working collaboratively. This all can help them practice the mindset, not only of a computer scientist, but also of Friends Seminary creative, curious, and engaged Friends Seminary learner.
After they read “Hello Ruby,” students draw imaginary maps and then hand write code to make a character get from the map’s start to its end, saying hello to friends and avoiding obstacles along the way. With partners they find ways to use the repeat command to make their coding more efficient.
With multicolored magnetic tiles, students create characters and patterns that bring out the fact that complex shapes can are built from multiple parts.
Introduction to coding with the Finch Robot follows the work that accompanies “Hello Ruby.” With the Finchblox app on the iPad, students work in pairs to code the bots, first to create a square without repeats and then using the repeat command. The next challenge is to control the Finch as it works its way through a maze. Coding the robot to play happy birthday and display a lightshow happens next. Finally, the unit introduces robot’s ability to sense light, sound and distance.
Working with the Finches connects to the earlier focus on working collaboratively, looking for patterns and dividing a problem into manageable parts.
This Creative Computing curriculum in Grade Two homerooms is designed so that the purposeful and careful introduction to the concepts of computational thinking connect with and extend overall Grade Two curricular goals.