Without Scratch, I was floundering a bit. We did some background work off-computer looking at flow charts, what 'IF' really means, and repeating actions but we needed something to demonstrate how it works for real.
Imagine my insane level of excitement to stumble across the Learn an Hour of Code initiative at code.org https://code.org/learn
This is one incredible resource. With a number of themes to choose from, it takes you through a simple set of challenges before letting you have free reign to create your own program. Seeking maximum engagement, we started off with a Minecraft challenge.
Starting with simple sequencing using command blocks, there are instructional videos interspersed to introduce repeat blocks and then if statements. Our hour came and went. The boys spent a further 3 hours coding various scenarios. The rest of the timetable went out of the window : they concentrated, planned, designed, built and tested. I only stopped them when it was tea time.
A particularly nice feature is that they can view the javascript behind the blocks. So what skills are key here? The logical reasoning is vital, the sequencing helps in all manner of cause and effect scenarios but for me it's the debugging where the gold lies. When something doesn't work like it should, the boys couldn't blame the computer or anything else. It's their code, whatever it's doing, it does it because they told it to do it.
It's a detail but I love the responsibility aspect. On a practical level, having to go back through to work out why something isn't doing what you expect, fix it and re-test (repeat, repeat, repeat) until it does what you want - it is a profound and powerful lesson in problem solving and tenacity.
And wow - what a peaceful afternoon for me.
