Students in Miller Avenue School have an exceptional
extracurricular opportunity with the school’s new coding club. Guided by
music teacher/adviser Ms. Cara Brown, the popular club is teaching and
challenging students to use logic to problem solve, create algorithms,
develop step-by-step solutions and explore different methods of coding
with some well-known characters, including Dory and Elsa.
“We used the Wonder app and the Path app to explore
different methods of coding,” Ms. Brown said. “In the Path app, students
drew a line of code for Dash to follow. They followed directions and
sequencing to place different obstacles, sounds and actions along their
line of code.”
The students also used an app with animal-themed precoding
logic to help animals from different continents reach their goal and
programmed a peanut butter sandwich robot, along the way learning about
efficient ways to use loops in the algorithm.
Ms. Brown works with 20 kindergarten students in this
particular session, with kindergarten and first grade sessions meeting
for three weeks followed by second graders who will meet for eight
weeks. She estimates that by the end of the school year, 160 kids will
have received coding instruction either before or after school.