Literacy, Numeracy, Coding...! 

Monday 10th August 2015

“Everybody should learn how to program a computer… because it teaches you how to think”
—Steve Jobs


Code Club
Code Club

CODE CLUB 2.0

Code Club is an after school activity for those interested in developing skills in programming (coding).  In a country where there is currently a shortage of over 10,000 technologists, this skill forms an important foundation for many vocational pathways.  Although Code Club has been running for several terms now, we are about to change its structure to ensure a better focus on key skills. Two separate levels will run:

Year 7 & 8 - for boys who wish to develop coding skills through “Scratch”.  Scratch is a free visual programming language developed to help simplify the process of creating and programming animations, games, music, interactive stories and more.

The Scratch programming language is primarily targeted at children ages eight through sixteen, and is designed to teach computational thinking using a simple but powerful building-block approach to software development that focuses more on problem solving than on specific syntax. As such it is an excellent introduction to coding skills that can be transferred to more complex languages. This group will be affiliated to Code Club Aotearoa and will progress boys through a series of projects and challenges. For more information about Scratch please see https://scratch.mit.edu/about/

Year 9 and up: This group will use an online course structure through Grok Learning.  A year subscription gives access to online coding tutorials at whatever level is appropriate, challenges and competitions. The site provides immediate feedback on tasks and allows both teachers and parents to monitor progress through the dashboard. The main language is Python although HTML and CSS are also available. Python strikes the right balance between simplicity and power. It is an easy to learn scripting language used for many different purposes such as web applications and scientific research. Companies like Google, Facebook and Reddit all use Python in their infrastructure and web services.

For coders at this level, $35 will be charged to accounts to cover the subscription. This also includes access to the NCSS Challenges and Hour of Code competitions over the next 12 months.

Signup details, meeting times etc will be in the school notices over the next week but if you have questions or would like your son to sign up, please email me at chris@mcglashan.school.nz.

Scratch 
The "GROK" learning environment