CyberFair Project ID: 7643

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International Schools CyberFair Project Narrative
Title: Coding the Future
Category: 2. Community Groups and Special Populations
URL: https://sites.google.com/a/stpaulgiants.com/coding-the-future/
Bibliography: https://sites.google.com/a/stpaulgiants.com/coding-the-future/bibliography

School: St. Paul Lutheran Elementary School
    Farmington, Missouri, United States

15 students, ages 13-15 years worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 11, 2014. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2005-2014

Classes and Teachers: Mrs. Leanna K Johnson and Eighth Grade Class

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://stpaulgiants.com

Project Overview

1. Description of Our Community

Our community of Farmington, Missouri is located about 60 miles south from St. Louis, Missouri. Farmington has a population of approximately 16,000 residents as of July 2011. Farmington is located in the county of St. Francois. St. Francois County is located in the Mineral Area region of Missouri. St. Francois County has a population of approximately 65,000 residents as of July 2011. Our CyberFair project interviews were taken from about a 60 mile radius around Farmington. Our school, St. Paul Lutheran School, has about 247 students in K-8. St. Francois County population info from: Google Public Data. Farmington, MO population info from: Google Public Data.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our CyberFair project entry this year is titled 'Coding the Future.' We are sharing online resources to learn coding, providing information about the Parkland Programmers organization, 4H Robotics Club, coding history, careers and salaries as well as interviews with professional programmers. Parkland Programmers is a community program that teaches kids to code using Scratch. This is a positive thing for kids to be learning because in the next 10 years there will be 1.4 million jobs open in this career field in the United States.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

We didn’t have too many problems that we needed to overcome, but we did have a couple that put us behind on getting our website finished as soon as we wanted. First of all, we got a lot of snow this year; it was a lot more snow than what we usually get. Since there was a lot of snow, we had to take many days off of school, and a couple days that school was in session, a few people were still not able to get here due to the snow and ice at their homes. Then the second problem we had was trouble receiving responses on our Google Form. However, in the end we ended up getting five interviews from programmers that are now on our Interviews page!

5. Our Project Sound Bite

As we have collected information on coding we have come to realize how much it has changed not only our community, but the world. Technology is a large part in the lives of everyone, and each and every part of it involves some sort of program. The amount of coding that goes into every program or app is incredible. As a part of our project we learned to code ourselves. We hope that by providing this resource people in our community and around the world will learn about coding, too; maybe by deciding to learn how to code themselves.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Most standards of the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) NETS (National Educational Technology Standards for Students standards http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx are met by this CyberFair project. We also follow guidelines as presented by iNACOL standards for learning (International Association for K-12 Online Learning http://www.inacol.org/research/nationalstandards/) Research and collaboration online allowed us to apply our digital skills. We will be better prepared for the future by securing these standards as daily classroom practices.

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Project Elements

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We used Google Apps For Education (Site; Drive - Search, Docs, Form, Mail, Presentation); iMovie; Vimeo; 2 iPads; 15 PCs; Paint and Paint.NET to create unique graphics; Code.org, CodeHS.com and Scratch.mit.edu for coding activities; KREI Radio for publication; and mobile phones for communication. Google Apps are very helpful tools for collaboration. Not only do they allow access to work anywhere there is an Internet connection, they allow us to work cooperatively. Google Form allowed us to conduct interviews from scattered locations in North America.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Students conducted all the research and documentation of the website and all of its graphics. Because students learned through meaningful activities, they gained knowledge and confidence of the subject. We participated in the Hour of Code sponsored by Code.org and shared our expertise of Scratch by judging some competitive activities at Parkland Programmers. Through these activities, our students met students of all ages throughout the school and from other schools as well. The field trip to the radio station gave us the opportunity to share it with the broader community. Coding is fun and we hope we have helped to ignite more interest in learning it at a young age.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Coding is fun and we hope we have helped to ignite more interest in learning it at a young age. We think the information we present will give students the opportunity to see how broad the coding/programming field is - they can design their learning to the field it best fits. We also think that adults and educators will realize the real need to prepare students for these career opportunities by providing training early in interesting and enjoyable formats. There is a real need for students to begin learning how to code at a young age so they are prepared for their future!

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We were able to help Parkland Programmers by coming to their sessions and judging Scratch competitions and they also helped us by explaining more about programming because the founders, Bruce and Tiffany Marler, are directly connected to the field. Ann Boes is in charge of 4H Robotics and she showed us a whole new area of coding, robotics. To return the favor, we will help them with their college-sponsored competition on March 22 at Mineral Area College. We especially wish to thank Mark Toti at KTJJ-KREI Radio for helping us broadcast our activities to the thousands of listeners in radio audience in our area.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

We thought coding would be hard, but it's also very fun and you can see that on our opening video. Creating games using Scratch, playing games during the Hour of Code, and creating our own Flappy Bird games has been challenging and exciting. It's great to be able to share or play a unique game created by a classmate.

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View our CyberFair Project (Project ID: 7643)

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