A number people from both established Code Clubs, and those interested in starting one, have asked me about strategies to engage active support from parents and IT teachers. Recently we had a chance to sit down and look back over some of our experiences running Code Club, and came up with some ideas about some things that worked for us.
Comparing before and after At some point during the year, we usually ask our students to name some of the things they love about Code Club.
After the initial excitement of ‘hey I’m actually coding!’ and creating some working code, the next step is often to put together the code in different ways and test our understanding. The faster you progress, the sooner this time will come. In other words, having your code not work is a great sign that you’re putting in the effort to progress. This also applies if you’re a teacher or volunteer who may be starting to put things together yourself, while helping kids learn.
This post is for kids or teachers who have a basic understanding of the Scratch interface. It’s really light, and for more detailed information you should always refer to the Scratch Wiki.
How do I make my player move when I press keys? This is probably the most common beginner question I hear at our Code Club. If you asked this, that’s great, because it means you’re already got an idea of what you want the player to do in your game.
