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Ignite Learning Through Coding

Ignite Learning Through Coding. Presented by: Chari Distler. *Note - Alice Works on Mac & PC. Academic Technology Teacher. Alice Programming Middle School Grades 6 - 8 High School Grades 9 - 12 Middle School Robotics Middle School Minecraft Professional Development

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Ignite Learning Through Coding

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  1. Ignite Learning Through Coding Presented by: Chari Distler

  2. *Note - Alice Works on Mac & PC Academic Technology Teacher • Alice Programming • Middle School Grades 6 - 8 • High School Grades 9 - 12 • Middle School Robotics • Middle School Minecraft • Professional Development • No prior programming experience

  3. MS/HS Applications Teacher MS/HS Video Production Teacher MS/HS Photoshop Teacher MS/HS Illustrator Teacher MS Robotics Teacher HS InDesign Teacher HS Flash Teacher MS and HS Alice Teacher About Me • Bachelor of Fine Arts NYITMinor: Teacher Education • Masters in Communication ArtsNYITSpecialization: Computer Graphics • Joined NBPS in 1998

  4. Why Should We Teach CS • Computer Science gives students vital 21st century skills • Computer Science underlies most innovation today • Computer Science could mean rewarding careers • Predicted shortage of people to fill technical jobs in the future • Wide rage on options in CS (health, environment, finance, arts, security, etc.)

  5. Computer Science Grades K-12 • We need to give our students a taste of CS • Students start making decisions about careers in Middle School

  6. Resources for Students to Learn CS Resources for students to learn CS: • Code.org • Coursera • EdX • Made With Code (Google) • TechPrep(Facebook) • KhanAcademy

  7. Girls account for more than half of all AP test-takers • Boys outnumber girls 5:1 in AP computer science exams • Girls account for 18.5 percent of AP Computer Science test takers • In Mississippi, Montana and Wyoming, there was not a single girl that took the AP Computer Science examination in 2014 Women in Computer Science • In the ‘70’s only 38% of the workforce was represented by women • Women today make up 47% of US workers • 12% of engineers are female. • In 2013 only 14% of computer science graduates were woman

  8. Getting the Numbers to Rise • There are multiple solutions towards reversing this trend • Encouraging more female students to undertake computer science • Fostering an interest in scientific topics at an early age • Working to remove negative connotations and barriers • Educators and parents can work together to: • Help girls maintain confidence • Foster curiosity in STEM subjects The Decline of Women In Technology • 1980’s began the era of the home computer • The first Personal Computers were essentially early gaming systems • The marketing campaigns for these systems catered to males • The “Nerdy Programmer” became the classification in the computer industry • From early 1980’s to mid 1990’s the number of women studying computer science dropped about 10% • The number has dropped another 10% in the past 15 years

  9. What Does CS Offer? • Computer Science is more than technology. • Computer Science teaches the following skills: • Design • Logical Thinking • Sequential Thinking • Problem Solving

  10. How Do We Teach Science? • Chemistry – Experiments • Biology – Experiments • Physics – Experiments

  11. How Do We Teach Computer Science? Computer Science has been taught very textually. • Write a calculator program • Write a banking program

  12. What’s Missing in Computer Programming? • Students are not getting exciting results at the beginning. • Too textual based with too much room for error. • It’s not appealing to today’s children in which media and technology are part of their everyday life.

  13. A program designed to teach the Introduction to Computer Programming • The coding is very similar to Java • Create interactive stories or games • Create animations using the same style as Disney and Pixar • Learn programming in an easy way: drag-and-drop your code • Problem solving with visual feedback, logical thinking, sequential thinking and computational thinking • Along the way, learn computer science concepts: loops, classes, methods, functions and arrays What is the Alice Programming Language?

  14. My Favorite Alice World!

  15. Why Teach With Alice Virtual Worlds • Fun! • Hands-on • Interactive • Visual • Less error prone • Exciting results right away

  16. Logistics: • Two-week workshops • Sixty hour class • 35 teachers • Learned Programming • Introduced to Animation • Created Lesson Plans • Feedback from: • Instructor • Other Teachers • Prepared us with: • Knowledge • Materials • Resources • Confidence How I Learned Alice • Adventures In Alice • Two Week Workshop at Duke UniversitySummer 2012 • Adventures In Alice • Two Week Workshop at Stanford University Summer 2014

  17. What Student Enjoy About Alice • Learning CS Skills • Creating Worlds • Collaborating • Sharing (YouTube) • Presenting • Seeing each others work

  18. What Does Alice Come With? • Alice comes with galleries of 3D objects • Alice remembers the objects you choose • Most of the objects come with multiple parts which are movable • 100’s of objects are sorted in folders: • People • Vehicles • Cultures • Food • Planets

  19. Two Aspects of Alice • Programming Tool • Some of the students like getting into the intricate code • Gaming – students are creating their own games • Animation/Storytelling Tool • Some of the students enjoy the animation/storytelling aspect Storytelling in a 3D virtual world…How cool is that?

  20. When Could Alice Be Used? • Teachers • Examples in lecture • Start worlds for students to finish • Make interactive quizzes • Make worlds on concepts for students to view • Students • Project in lieu of PowerPoint or Poster • Learn concepts by interacting with worlds

  21. Alice in the Academic Classroom World Languages English Social Science Math Science

  22. Why Use Alice In Schools? • Free software • Many resources for teachers at every level • Multi-university initiative • Many universities offers PD during the summer • Stanford • Duke • Carnegie Melon • Georgia Tech • College of Charleston

  23. Randy Pausch • Developed Alice • Professor at Carnegie Melon University • Virtual Reality Researcher • The Last Lecture – a must see! “You’ve got to get the fundamentals down, otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work”- Randy Pausch “The Last Lecture”

  24. Two Versions of Alice Alice 2.4 • Great for Middle School and High School • Fully Supported • Will be around for years to come • Stable Alice 3 • Used mostly for High School • Programming Course -introduction lead into a Java Course • Alice 3 Worlds can be edited with Java Editor • Not in Beta, but team is still improving it

  25. Where Has Our School Gone Since the Pilot of Alice Alice has sparked an interest in students that may have never tried computer science. About half of the students that tried Alice, moved on to take other CS classes at our school. These classes were all added to our curriculum after piloting Alice. Middle School • APP Development • Java/Greenfoot • Design Thinking • Fab Lab • Robotics – FLL • Girls Team High School • Computer Science • IB Computer Science • AP Computer Science • AP Computer Science Principals • Robotics • FIRST FTC • FIRST FRC

  26. Why Alice’s Name is Alice Alice is not an acronym. The team named the Alice programming environment “Alice” in honor of Lewis Carroll. Lewis Carroll was the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Carroll was not only an author, but also a great mathematician. He produced some great technical applications, and knew that the most important goal was making important concepts simple and fascinating for younger learners.

  27. Some Wor(l)ds From Students

  28. What I Have Done With Alice • Presented at: • Alice Symposium – Summer 2013 • Adventures In Alice – Duke University 2013 • Adventures In Alice – Duke University 2014 • FCIS 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 • FETC 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 • Published Paper in Association of Computers and Machinery • “Piloting Alice in the Upper School” ACM - January 2014 • Assisted Adventures In Alice • Two Week Workshop at Duke University - Summer 2015 • Two Week Workshop at Duke University - Summer 2016 • iTech21 – Teachers Teaching Teachers –Summers 2015 & 2016 • Visit: http://www.itech21.org

  29. How Easy is Alice to Learn? • Select objects and place in world • Select code, drag and drop into program • Play animation • Add events and make your world interactive

  30. Resources • www.alice.org • Adventures in Alice • Duke University • Alice with Ms. Distler • Alice Teachers Digest

  31. Questions?

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