Coding in Div 1

Twenty years ago, if someone had asked you to teach code in your classroom what might have come to mind?

Might you have thought of morse code? Semaphore code? Braille perhaps?

Are you ready to be at least a little bit surprised? Teaching code for computers is really no different than teaching any of those aforementioned codes would have been. Computer code operates as a sequence of commands; much like cooking a recipe, or telling a story in the correct order. What makes coding feel intimidating is mostly that it uses some terminology that comes from Computer Science instead of linguistics.

Let’s start with the first polysyllabic word: ALGORITHM. The algorithm in code is very simply the directions. Here’s a cute little video designed to assist little ones (and adults in some cases), wrap their heads around the idea of an algorithm.

Beneath the video you will find some analog coding activities (aka: non-digital, pencil, paper & glue coding) to help you begin to expose students in div 1 to the basic concepts of coding.