Community reviews for Code.org

This website is a wonderful resource (including links to other sites) when teaching coding. You can use it for all grade levels as there are courses for non readers up through those that have done this for years (much more challenging). The site had some problems during hour of code last year because the traffic was much higher than anticipated, but they were extremely responsive quickly at fixing the problems by adding servers. The resources that are available (posters, unplugged activities, etc) are top notch.

After attending a code.org workshop, I realized it was more than just having the students use and learn coding skills on their own. The workshop demonstrated how 5-10 minute whole class lessons could accompany each session, and can be found on the website. By following this, I was able to teach the students the specific skill that went along with the coding session. When other teachers and administration walked into the classroom, the excitement of the kids explaining what the learned was clear. I like how the website's interface is extremely user-friendly! I teach kindergarten through fifth grade, and students with special needs in a computer lab. Each group of students I see for about 40 minutes. Code.org not only benefits students of all ages and skill, it keeps them engaged for the provided time period. I feel this site provides students with the beginning thought process that accompanies skills with coding. In the beginning stages, students are not learning the language of coding, which can be highly complicated, but are learning the thought process behind. For the students who are more advanced, though they are still engaged by the site, I don't think they are learning as much. With those students, I like to use a program called Scratch.

Having a "hour of code" movement, and buy-in/support from so many well-know figures in the public eye pushed excitement for this website. There were activities to engage students who were hesitant about coding as well as those who have spent time coding already. I would like it if the home landing page was easier to navigate between the Hour of Code activities and the leveled challenged activities.

Excellent! It helps students learn a skill that is in high demand and will help them get a job.

My students always find this website really fun and it keeps them fully engaged. It's important for the teacher to review the coding activities beforehand so that they can readily and easily help guide the students as they complete the exercise. Some of the repeat loops and conditionals are challenging for students to figure out on their own which is also the nice part about this website because you can encourage a community of learners by working with the students to figure out the code.

LightBot makes all students feel successful. I have had numerous special needs students play LightBot on their free time and tell others about it and help them along. It teaches students sequence, loops, procedures, and debugging.

I love this program for many reason. It is a great introduction to programming concepts. They may not walk away from it knowing any languages, but they will definitely get the idea behind programming. It pulls in geometry and math skills by using knowledge of angles and shapes. It worked out very well as an end of the year project because I introduced them to Khan Academy and Scratch once they completed the 20 Hours of Code to continue working over the summer if they wanted. In a class of 28 students, the interest level broke down like this: 8 boys and 2 girls became obsessed, they worked on it at home and in between things as often as they could. Two of those eight wrote me thank you notes at the end of the program stating they now wanted to pursue Computer Programming as a career but had never been exposed to it before Code.Org. About 12 boys and girls really liked it, and liked the challenge it presented them. Then there were 4 girls and 2 boys that didn't get into it. They liked the introductory lessons and tutorials, and the more artistic based lessons, but once they got more complicated they lost interest. An easy fix was to pair up the first group of kids with the last group of kids, they were able to assist them when they got stuck as well as their excitement when they "beat" a tutorial became contagious. I plan on doing 20 Hours of Code again this year and adding 4th graders.

This is a terrific teaching tool, supporting the discovery of a new language in a step by step process. Students are engaged through the "unplugged" and "plugged" activities evidenced by their enthusiastic participation on an individual level and as part of a team. They work together, talking out ideas and trying different approaches to solve a problem--the structures created out of toothpicks and spice drops for one of the unplugged activities, were unique to each group yet each one was able to support a book for 10secs. The students are leading their own discoveries and the program is self-paced to support individual learning needs--enjoy being a partner with your students.

Students worked as experts to help others over rough spots. They were excited to see what they had created. This was such a motivating and rewarding experience for the students.

I think Code.org is an excellent gateway to coding and computer programming. I have used it since my 4th grade Hour of Code lesson to introduce programming to 8th graders prior to a robotics unit and they loved it too. I do think it's important to introduce the kind of thinking students will need to use to complete the exercises. I also think it's helpful to talk about problem solving with the class before they get started so they have it in their heads that it is ok to make mistakes while using this program... Part of the beauty of the exercises is that you can keep making adjustments and trying things again.