Lies

I really liked that it was text based as opposed to the block dragging code offered by other programs. It was like coding with training wheels because they had to learn to "debug" and think about program flow. I really liked that it has the graphical library that allows the students to easily build and visualize abstract code.

This is a great tool to get students interested in writing text-based code. The ToolBox is helpful for the beginning, to allow the students to add the code, using the "block" format that many are familiar with, but the step-by-step instructions require them to edit the text and learn real Python code writing. Some of the later lessons get very intense and may lose students who are not fully committed to coding.

As a teacher, I needed to find a coding exercise that was appropriate to an wide range of experienced students. Codesters was wonderful because there are a variety of entry and exit points. the students were especially engaged by the debugging activities.