About Coding: For Parents
Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas
By Seymour Papert
Mindstorms has two central themes: that children can learn to use computers in a masterful way and that learning to use computers can change the way they learn everything else. Even outside the classroom, Papert had a vision that the computer could be used just as casually and as personally for a diversity of purposes throughout a person’s entire life. Seymour Papert makes the point that in classrooms saturated with technology there is actually more socialization and that the technology often contributes to greater interaction among students and among students and instructors.
The Art of Tinkering
By Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich
This Is Not Your Average Art Book
Brought to you by the Exploratorium's Tinkering Studio, The Art of Tinkering is an unprecedented celebration of what it means to tinker: to take things apart, explore tools and materials, and build wondrous, wild art that’s part science and part technology.
Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom
By: Sylvia Libow Martinez
and Gary Stager, PH.D.
There’s a technological and creative revolution underway. Amazing new tools, materials and skills turn us all into makers. Using technology to make, repair or customize the things we need brings engineering, design and computer science to the masses. Fortunately for educators (and parents), this maker movement overlaps with the natural inclinations of children and the power of learning by doing. The active learner is at the center of the learning process, amplifying the best traditions of progressive education.
Design, Make, Play: Growing the Next Generation of Stem Innovators
Design, Make, Play: Growing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators is a resource for practitioners, policymakers, researchers and program developers that illuminates creative, cutting edge ways to inspire and motivate young people about science and technology learning. The book is aligned with the National Research Council’s new Framework for Science Education, which includes an explicit focus on engineering and design content, as well as integration across disciplines.
The Maker Movement Manifesto: Rules for Innovation in the New World of Crafters, Hackers, and Tinkerers
By: Mark Hatch
Mark Hatch has been at the forefront of the Maker Movement since it began. A cofounder of TechShop--the first, largest, and most popular makerspace--Hatch has seen it all. In his book, The Maker Movement Manifesto he takes you deep into the movement. Hatch describes the remarkable technologies and tools now accessible to you and shares stories of how ordinary people have devised extraordinary products, giving rise to successful new business ventures. He explains how economic upheavals are paving the way for individuals to create, innovate, make a fortune--and even drive positive societal change--with nothing more than their own creativity and some hard work.It's all occurring right now, all around the world--and possibly in your own neighborhood.
What's this about coding in the library?
Actually, Libraries are great places to facilitate student exploration of new technologies and for working with things such as coding! Libraries have always been hubs for connecting people and ideas and information and technology. Maker spaces [and coding programs] are a great example of the ways they're bringing people in to experience new and different things.
Coding and other forms of student-driven maker education in our classrooms serve as antidotes to the strictures of a test-based educational system. Coding gives us a way to write and build with students that requires close attention to detail, creativity, problem-solving, and an appreciation of failure as a constructive step forward. Rote repetition of content knowledge and ways of knowing—such as the three-to-five-page essay and flash cards—simply do not ask as much of us, nor do they help students develop the determination to puzzle through messy, novel, relevant problems typical of life outside of school.
“Students need to start trying their hand at coding and all kinds of online production in K–5,” says Melissa Techman, school librarian at Albemarle County (VA) Schools. It “allows them to acquire the habits of mind involved in being good communicators and information designers.”
“In the library, coding is both a hands-on maker opportunity and a perfect fit with new media literacy standards,” Techman adds. “We are no longer just talking about genre, format, purpose and audience with books; we’re analyzing methods and messages in webtoons, animations, websites, and videos. We’re assessing how things fit, and what usability is."
-Taken from Chad Sansing's article, "Coding Skills Empower Us All" from The Maker Issue of School Library Journal
Highly Recommended Reading
Nifty. So, what do I do to support my child with this venture into coding?
Well, there are plenty of resources and communities online that your child can be part of that will allow them to learn code as they have fun and explore through games (such as Lightbot and Code Combat), by more direct (but still fun) tutorials (such as Codecademy), or the programming sandbox, Scratch. Please take a look at the main coding page on the SGS Library website for more information.
I also highly recommend taking a look or a readthrough of the titles listed to the right.
Public Libraries, Schools, Comic Book stores and other places that encourage exploration and creativity across the United States also sometimes host coding clubs. One such coding club community, Code Dojo has 5 localy operated dojos right here around Austin! Why not take your child to a dojo so they can build and hone in on their coding skills with their peers?
Round Rock, Texas @ TechShop
120 Sundance Parkway, Suite 350, Round Rock, TX 78681
Every Sunday from 4pm-6pm
Please bring a laptop.
For more information, click here or here
Austin, Westlake Hills @Karnik Institute
4100 Bee Cave Road, Austin, TX 78745
Sundays (weekly) 4:00pm-6:00pm
Please bring a laptop.
For more information, click here
Austin, Texas @ Hampton Branch Library
5125 Convict Hill Rd, Austin, TX 78749
3rd Friday of every month, 1-3 PM
Please bring a laptop.
For more information, click here
Austin, Texas @ Dragon's Lair Comics and Fantasy
2438 W Anderson Ln B1, Austin, TX 78757
Every 2nd Friday, 1:00pm-3:00pm
Please bring a laptop (snacks welcome)
For more information, click here
Austin, Texas @ Spicewood Springs Branch Library
8637 Spicewood Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78759
Every 1st Friday, 1:00pm-3:00pm
Please bring a laptop.
For more information, click here
You, of course, can participate too! A lot of parents like to get involved and work with their young people, which is encouraged. A parent or guardian should also encourage their children to discover and learn uninhibited. - See more at: https://coderdojo.com/attend/#parents
When at home, let your child take some time to work on Code.org's Hour of Code. It is recommended that you allow your child to work though at least a few challenges at a time, so that the routines stick and can be built upon later.
Recommended Articles
Coding & Programming
Libraries
From Scratch's Website
By: Irene Lee, Fred Martin, Jill Denner, et al.
By: Anette Vee
By: Chad Sansing
By: Colleen Graves
By: Beth Holland
By: Terry Heick
By: Matt Collette
By: Benjamin Herold