PROGRAMMING PROJECT HOUR OF CODE 1

Growing up in the early 2000’s, technology was starting to improve throughout the entire

globe. It was not until the beginning of 2010 that I started to take computer classes that involved

movie maker, PowerPoint, or simulations. Coding was rarely taught throughout our school

district, primarily because we did not have the expertise of any teacher at that time. Using the

Hour of Code for the past few hours, I was very surprised at how much thinking had to go on for

even the simplest steps. I had completed two beginning sessions called “Make a Flappy Game

and Al for Oceans” and two comfortable sessions called “Program in Python with Tracey the

Turtle and Race Condition Coding Game.” Looking at it from a player’s perspective, you never

realize how many sound effects, movements, and techniques are implemented into games until

you are the programmer. With the flappy game, it was very interesting to code how to jump,

score, end the game, and change the backgrounds in different sequences. The Al for Oceans

game has an AI robot that recognized items as either fish or not fish. I believe this game helped

students understand to code and reached out the importance of littering in our own oceans.

There were disclaimers with facts on how to keep our oceans safe and what we can do to prevent

animals being affected by our trash. Python and the Race Condition Coding Game were both

similar in many ways. The coder must type out ways to make the game work and how to move

directions such as “forward’ and “turn” with a particular distance and degrees. All these games

help students think outside the box, to give them an opportunity to create something that is their

own masterpiece. Our school has done Hour of Code before but only for a day or two throughout

the year. I personally believe that coding can be useful in any teacher’s classroom. Since I am a

math teacher, in the future, I plan on having my students code once a month for projects on

content. An example would be trying to create three dimensional figures while finding the area
PROGRAMMING PROJECT HOUR OF CODE 2

and volume of those figures. This would implement technology, creative thinking, and

understanding math formulas all at once.