Students showcase code club creations
Hamilton Code Clubs (@hamontcodeclub) has been running showcase sessions in all of its code clubs over the past week!
Hamilton Code Clubs revolves around lunch hour and after school “learn to code” clubs where students are introduced to early computer programming skills using fun and free tools like Scratch, Hopscotch and Khan Academy. Students are introduced to these tools over several weeks via presentations from a mentor and working through walkthroughs. They learn the basic building blocks of programming like conditional statements and loops, mostly focused around drawing and animating since it’s most engaging that way.
The students are also given some weeks to build whatever they want to make. And I have to say it’s really, really cool watching the enthusiasm and engagement go into overdrive when they do. There’s something empowering for them about realizing that they can make the idea inside their head a reality on the screen in front of them, thanks to their new skill set. Instead of playing games, they’re making their own.
It’s cool because I suspect it will have enough of an impact for these kids that they will really remember it, and that for some it may even influence them enough to get into the industry one day.
After the students have built their creations, during the final week they show them off to their peers, mentor, teacher and in some cases parents too! It’s basically a DemoCamp for the kids in each of the 18 code clubs, and just as awesome!
Hamilton Code Clubs will be back next year, and expanding into more schools with our new funding too. Check out these photos from some the code clubs showcase events!
