Coding MasterClass for kids: Cats, Robots, and Pythons!
- Description
- Curriculum
- FAQ
- Reviews
Coding for kids
** Welcome to the most comprehensive and in depth course of its kind on Udemy !! **
So what makes this course different from the tons of courses out there? Simple answer: EVERYTHING!
This course is so much more than merely teaching kids how to code.
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But first a very important aspect :
Those under 18 may use the services only if a parent or guardian opens their account, handles any enrollments, and manages their account usage. We love it that young ones want to learn, and that parents or guardians allow for this, but is extremely important to us that all of this is done with your child’s safety in mind.
This is why we’ve added a short video to this course about the safety of our kids while online. Please take the information contained in it to heart and apply it to your child’s time online.
To facilitate this it is important to know that the course is intended for PURCHASE by adults, and that account usage must be under full-time management by a parent or guardian. We’ve also added Academy’s terms of usage on this matter to the end of this page.
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OK, so back to the fun stuff !
Sure, kids, young adults, and anybody interested will learn to code with this course, yes, but as you will discover this is the mere tip of the iceberg. For one, we teach this course using the principles behind the term Computational Thinking, effectively preparing our students for the brave new world that lies beyond the much talked about Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). What this boils down to is that we use Scratch 3.0 as a tool for bigger and bolder things.
We instill the very essence of complex ideas like Decomposition, Pattern Recognition, Abstraction and the all-important Algorithm Design without our students even realizing that they are using these principles. (They just think they are having fun !)
We look at basic Algebra, Trigonometry, and yes, even Robotics, all the while encouraging and focusing on critical 21st century Life, Literacy and Learning Skills. Skills like Creativity, Collaboration and Initiative are encouraged during this course as we cycle through easy to understand small bits of information. (And YES, we even build a robot together, using the skills learned during the course!)
After we are done with code-based programming (using Scratch 3.0 ) we move over to the incredibly popular, incredibly powerful Python, and teach our students the basics using the same principles as we utilized up to this point, linking the two coding platforms as not to overwhelm our budding student coders. (FUN being one of these principles)
You see, we believe, very much like Mitch Resnick, director of the MIT Media Lab, that people should not be merely learning to code, but instead coding to learn, and when people learn to code in the right way, they learn important strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas.
This is but a glimpse of an absolutely MASSIVE course, not only in terms of content and variety of topics, but also in terms of the critical skills that we all , but especially our young ones will need to possess in order to be relevant in this modern environment where concepts like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and the Internet of Things are fast becoming commonplace.
This , for us as the course creators and educators, Is the true essence of what a “Masterclass “needs to be : not a course that attempts to cram as much (or as little) information as what is deemed to be required into brains, but rather a course where a student walks away with a true understanding of not only the technical aspects of the subject matter, but the reasoning behind the methodology. We have found, time and time again, that this way of doing things result in a student that can apply what he or she have learned to whatever the need may be, and carry these skills with them for the rest of their lives.
This, however, is not all! For your hard-earned money you also get :
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Lifetime access to this course
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Constant updates and additions to course materials
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a Very responsive instructor (that loooves what he does)
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Quizzes formulated to ask the right questions, testing knowledge in a very specific way, not just “fillers “to make a course seem longer and devoid of substance.
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Challenges that challenge the right skills at the right time, with step by step walkthroughs of solutions.
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A Certificate of Completion
So what makes this course different you ask? E-VE-RY-THING !!
PS : We also have a huge bonus for those students that successfully finish this course : a Certificate !
We will send you a digital certificate detailing all of the outcomes of this course, apart form the standard Udemy completion certificate, absolutely free of charge. How awesome is this !
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VERY IMPORTANT
** It is very important for us that our young ones remain safe while online, and as such we adhere to Udemy’s Terms of Use , especially regarding young people using this facility. Please read the terms of service below very carefully **
Terms of Use
Udemy’s mission is to improve lives through learning. We enable anyone anywhere to create and share educational courses (instructors) and to enroll in these educational courses to learn (students). We consider our marketplace model the best way to offer valuable educational content to our users. We need rules to keep our platform and services safe for you, us and our student and instructor community. These Terms apply to all your activities on the Udemy website, the Udemy mobile applications, our TV applications, our APIs and other related services (“Services”).
Students and instructors must be at least 18 years of age to create an account on Udemy and use the Services. If you are younger than 18 but above the required age for consent to use online services where you live (for example, 13 in the US or 16 in Ireland), you may not set up an account, but we encourage you to invite a parent or guardian to open an account and help you enroll in courses that are appropriate for you. If you are below this age of consent to use online services, you may not create a Udemy account. If we discover that you have created an account that violates these rules, we will terminate your account. Under our Instructor Terms, you may be requested to verify your identity before you are authorized to submit a course for publication on Udemy.
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Introduction. What will you be learning in this course? -
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Creating a perfect learning environment.
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What, How, and Whhhhyyyyyyy ? Brief overview of curriculum.
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Requirements for this course
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Why all these videos?
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** SURPRISE** How to get a course certificate.
Get a Udemy certificate that looks pretty standard PLUS an Apparatus certificate that displays all of the outcomes covered in this course. As soon as you are done, send an email to .... with the student name that completed the course and we will send you a digital certificate that you can print out and proudly hang on your wall.
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How the Questions and Answers(Q&A) section works
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a Message for the grownups : should kids learn to code?
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Another resource for grownups : digitally SMART children
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Setting up a Scratch account
We create a username and password for our intrepid coders, and use Google to find Scratch on the internet
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The drag ...how to operate a mouse in Scratch
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What do you do with an itchy face ---You Scratch it !
Our first look at Scratch, and we learn what the computer science word "Interface" mean. We learn about the different parts of scratch, mainly blocks, sprites, stages, and scripts.
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Our first code ! (You are obviously a genius)
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Chocolate cake, GoogleFu and Algorithms
We look at the computer science word "Algorithm", and use Google to look up the meaning of the word. We look at the ingredients and instructions for our recipe : the coding that we have done so far and lastly learn what the word "Resource" mean in computer science terms .
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Hey, were did my code go ?
In this lesson we see how to load your previous code, and learn that saving your work regularly is also a good programming practice
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a Notebook....... For taking notes silly !
It's important that the learners get used to the idea of using a workbook to write their coding projects and solutions in, to wire their brains to a Computational Thinking way of solving problems. We look at an example of the workbook I use. (A fancy term for this workbook is a design journal. )
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Uh Oh ... We are thinking about chocolate cake again
We introduce the term "algorithmic thinking" to our brave and intrepid coders and explain the why and how behind this complex idea using simple terms and clear examples. We also use our notebooks for the first time to break down a problem into smaller steps ( the very heart of algorithmic thinking) using "natural language"
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Our first assignment. (Like homework, but FUN !)
The difference between homework and our assignments is …..our assignments are fun !
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Solution for our first assignment ( Did you have fun ? Well did ya ?)
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Even more blocks to play with. Yaaay !
We play with sounds and events, and have our first look at the computer science concept "parallel computing"
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Solution for above quick assignment on parallel computing
This is a possible solution for the quick challenge set in the previous lesson
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Let's make our code look super cool
Backdrops ! Backdrops ! Get your backdrops while they are still warm !
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Don't lose focus !
We see how Scratch handles focus, and how to manipulate multiple sprites with parallel computing practices
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An open ended, totally awesome assignment
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Solution for the totaly awesome assignment
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You have to eat your variables. Uhh, I mean vegetables.
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Move cat move ! an Assignment on Variables
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Solution for variables assignment ( Move cat move !)
Solution for the moving cat, and a quick look at the terms "clockwise "and anticlockwise"
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The power of Scratch : sharing is caring
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So what on earth is Computational Thinking ?
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Scratch on the move again….(he is definitely not a lazy cat)
Scratch the cat is on the move, but this time we are using basic geometry to do so.
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Assignment for "Scratch on the move"
We use the geometric principles we learned about in the previous lesson to make Scratch move about, and we learn how to retrieve previous code we worked on.
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Solution for "Scratch on the move"
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CopyCat !
a Quick look a management of files, including copying files, and starting a new project. We use a mistake I made in the previous lesson to cement the ideas behind file management and saving your work without losing anything.
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Go to Mouse Pointer : Of mice and cats
We look at the "go to mouse pointer" block and learn more about game mechanics and an example of an event in the process .
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Challenge : The flying bat
Our tireless Batty flies from corner to corner, making sounds and doing all sorts of whatever a bat does.
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Solution : The flying bat
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What a random thing to say!
We look at the term "random" and learn how this apply in Scratch and computer science
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Hardware, Inputs and outputs (Computer sciency stuff)
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Introduction to animation and loops and an assignment with "Flappy the Bat"
We animate Scratch the Cat, and you get to build your own animation.
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Solution for "Flappy the Bat" assignment.
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Another Loopy Lecture
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Scratch the running bouncing happy cat
We make an animated Scratch the Cat bounce all over the place, look at degrees quickly AND you get another AWESOME batty challenge to play with.
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Solution for bat BOUNCING challenge
a Possible solution for bouncing a silly bat around the screen. If yours look different then that's fine too ! We look at the Computational thinking term "Pattern Recognition" and use a very simple example of this to further cement the idea.
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Garbage in .....Garbage out
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What BatShooter 9000 will look like when we are done
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Batshooter 9000 : Step 1 , Planning the game
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Batshooter 9000 : Step 2 , Building the scene and designing resources
We start by using one of our previous codes as a base to build the rest of the game on, look at adding comments to our code blocks (good programming practices for the win!) , build a completely new sprite with multiple costumes from start to finish , and lock our new sprite onto our mouse cursor as an aiming device. ( Phew ! What a mouthful !)
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Batshooter 9000 : Step 3 , I'm sensing there may be a bug in my mouth. EEUUW !!
We look at the concepts behind sensing and bug fixes, and how to properly test your scripts by adding temporary code to your program. Also an in depth look at "IF " statements .
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Batshooter 9000 : Step 4 , Pew ! Pew ! Pew !
We add shooting effects to our game. Poor bats …..
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Batshooter 9000 : Step 5 : No IFs or BUT's. Only ANDs And ANDs pesky Booleans
In this lesson we learn about nested IF statements, and also look at the three main types of variables : Letters, Numbers, and Boolean (True/False) .
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Batshooter 9000 : Do this count ? Adding a counter
We ad a score counter for every time a bat is hit, create new variables, and use these new variables in our game.
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Batshooter 9000 Challenge : Ad a counter for each Bat
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Solution for " ad a counter for each Bat"
a Possible solution for our "Score for each bat" challenge.
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Batshooter 9000 Challenge : Add a total for all the scores ** DIFFICULT !!**
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Solution for the " add a total score" challenge. This is a difficult one !
Not only do we build a solution for the challenge, but we also uncover a bug in our game AND we fix the bug.
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Batshooter 9000 : 'Tis but a Scratch : adding a costume when shot
We change the costume of a very important sprite, and look at the importance of naming your costumes something meaningful to know exactly what each costume does
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Batshooter 9000 : Ask what the score should be: Getting user input using Scratch
We ask for user input, join two variables together, and learn about the computer science term ConCATenation . (And it has a CAT in it so how bad can it be ?)
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Batshooter 9000 : Game over PART 1
We start adding events for a "Game Over " scenario, and look at the super cool function in Scratch called a broadcast , and use this to fix a very subtle bug in our game.
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Batshooter 9000 : Game over PART 2
We ad a "Game Over" Sprite to our game, re-use a bunch of code, fix another pesky bug or two, aaaannnddd record our own sound to signify a game over ...
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Batshooter 9000 : Adding a Start Game Button
Not only do we ad a start button to the game, but also lots and lots of coding, hiding sprites, adding broadcasts , and tons of stuff to make the game more playable .
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BS9000 CHALLENGE : each score counts down independently. Hide when dead
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Solution for each score counts down independently. Hide when dead
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** Bonus challenge** Balloon example
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** Bonus challenge** SOLUTION
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**ANOTHER** Bonus : Random breaths (Random revisited)
We have a close look at the Random function in Scratch, and apply it to our balloon popping code
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BONUS lecture : The backpack
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Working with numbers in Scratch
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Sprite clicked for assigning a value
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Click on a Sprite to do a calculation... and a mini CHALLENGE !!
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Solution for mini challenge : add extra sprites to above lesson
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first sorta calculator PART 1
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first sorta calculator PART 2
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first sorta calculator PART 3
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**BONUS** lecture : orders of operation
We added this bonus lecture in order for you to successfully complete the next challenge
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Another **BONUS** lecture how to apply orders of operation in SCRATCH
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Challenge ! Using our sorta calculator, built a better calculator
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Solution for the better calculator PART 1
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Solution for the better calculator PART 2
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Solution for the better calculator PART 3
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The better calculator becomes better : add a square of the answer CHALLENGE
We ad exponents to the mix : a short lesson on what "Squaring" means and applying it to our calculator.
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Better calculator squared SOLUTION
Not only do we look at the solution for our challenge, but we also have a look at what exactly "Squaring"means, and how it can be applied to the real world
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Add a square root to your calculator (opposite of square) CHALLENGE
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Solution for the square root challenge
We look at a solution for the square root challenge, and have a mini lecture on what a square root is exactly.
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Calculate your age in years CHALLENGE
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Calculate your age in years SOLUTION ( and a bonus challenge !!)
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The SUM game : CHALLENGE
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The SUM game : SOLUTION Part 1
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The SUM game : SOLUTION Part 2
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The SUM game : SOLUTION Part 3
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The SUM game : SOLUTION Part 4
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**BONUS** lecture : More fun with numbers using MOD
We look at the "MOD" block, and test variables for divisibility, whole numbers, and odd/even numbers, and add comments to all our code
