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Computational Thinking
by Cathy Daniel
Two
Current Coding Applications:
1) I have used Bloxels Edu or Bloxels Builder
successfully in the past with students in grades 4 and 5. They were able to complete some of the challenges
at the website: https://edu.bloxelsbuilder.com/ However, I found Bloxels very difficult to
use with students any younger that grade 4.
Although there are many videos on the site, Scratch Jr. is a far better
fit for K-3 students, since they are the bulk of the students that I service. Additionally, Bloxels recently re-designed
their student user app, which made it easier for the students to use but much
harder to teach as it doesn’t align with the Teacher Resource materials that
arrived with the original Bloxel Builder sets.
2) MBlocky is the second coding app that I have
used with students. Unlike Bloxels, it uses
block coding which is very similar to Scratch and Scratch Jr. For that reason, I really like to use it. Once the students have progress through the
Scratch Jr. phase and they are ready to move onto learning about and using more
complicated coding skills, MBlocky is a natural next step. Two difficulties that I have found when
working with MBlocky is that all the M-Bots are identical and if you are teaching
in one room, the programs that the student create will pair with any M-Bot
close by, causing it to move when another student or group has already connected
to it. Secondly, each M-Bot has a name,
which changes at random at each power down and power up. This causes major
confusion and chaos amongst the users.
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