After-school curriculum designed to teach students programming

Submitted 11 years ago
Caitlin M.
Caitlin M.
Shorecrest Preparatory School
Saint Petersburg FL, US
My Rating
Pedagogy
Supports

My Take

Overall, I think Codecademy is a great learning tool for anyone wanting to learn code. An email is required for set up, and the website does contain a lot of text, so it may not be suitable for early elementary students or struggling readers. One feature that could help would be to add an audio (text-to-speech) feature in the instructions and feedback. I like that the lessons have clear objectives and increase in difficulty based on previous concepts learned. I like the feedback given when an answer is wrong, and the hints for those who are stuck.

How I Use It

I will use this product in Quarter 4 to lead an after-school coding club. The website has a detailed packet with week-by-week instructions for a year long after-school coding club. This is extremely helpful and can be used by teachers with no coding experience.

During code week, we tried the website with several eighth grade students during activity period in the Learning Commons. The students that were interested in learning how to code had great success with the website and were able to progress quickly through the lessons. For those who did not have the interest in learning to code already, the website did not entice them to learn. Therefore, I think this resource was most successful with students already interested in coding and not as an introduction to all students.