Coderdojo Activities for Term 1 2020

Accessing our online CoderDojo session (Scratch groups)

Zoom Meeting password: code

  1. We will host CoderDojo online using Zoom until further notice. Just click here to connect to the Zoom session. (Note if this is your first time using Zoom, it will guide you to install the Zoom app).
    Important: when you sign in to the Zoom meeting, sign in with your real first name.
  2. You may get dropped out of Zoom after 40 minutes but all you need to do is click on the link above to get back in.
  3. The general plan of the online sessions is to have a chat on Zoom at 6:30. Then you will work independently on your project. If you have any questions you can talk to us on Zoom. We will check back in with everyone around 7:45 before wrapping up the session.

Here are the activities that each group will be working on this term:

Newcomers

Not sure if we will have any Newcomers this term due to taking CoderDojo online. but just in case:

Go to Newcomers Activities

Scratch 1 & Scratch 2 (Beginner & Intermediate)

Scratch Studio For Your Work In Progress

Add your work to this studio even if it is not finished or not working so that we can see what you are working on and give you feedback or help: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/26513092/

This term we are going to try something new. We are going to work through a Scratch course on EdX.

  1. Go to the Programming in Scratch course in EdX. Your first step will be to register.
  2. After you successfully register, click the Enroll Now button and then click the Start Course button
  3. Quickly go through the Welcome section to learn about how EdX works. Read the instructions and watch the videos. Click the Next button at the bottom to continue to next step. You do not need to write anything in the discussions or fill out any surveys.
  4. Note that this course was based on Scratch 2 but you will be using Scratch 3. Most things are the same between Scratch 2 and Scratch 3 but there will be some small differences. The music and pen blocks are in Extensions in Scratch 3.0. If you want to see more differences see this.
  5. For those of you who have done a lot of Scratch, the first few steps of Unit 1 will be very basic but you still may learn a few things. So work your way through the steps quickly and you will soon be getting on to learning new things.

Google CS First

link to Games Design: https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/game-design/overview.html

link to other CS First projects: https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/curriculum.html

Advanced Scratchers

Note: Scratch 1 (beginners) and Scratch 2 (intermediate) is combined this term – see above. But for our advanced scratchers, we have an open-ended project/challenge to test your coding skills!

Scratch Studio For Your Work In Progress

Add your work to this studio even if it is not finished or not working so that we can see what you are working on and give you feedback or help: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/26513092/

Make a card game

(e.g. solitaire or any game of your choice).

Project guidelines for Make A Card Game

If you prefer to to work on your own project ideas that is fine or you can have a look at the other projects below.

Other project ideas

You can have a look through these projects to find something that interests you.

Robotics

This session is run by Nathalie. An introduction to robotics using mBot robot kits and a block programming language called mBlock which is similar to Scratch.

Introduction to Robotics session information

3D Computer Aided Design with TinkerCAD

Learn how to make 3D models using Tinkercad. Tinkercad is an easy-to-use 3D computer aided design (CAD) tool. You can quickly turn your idea into a CAD model for a 3D printer with Tinkercad. – Martin Love

TinkerCAD session information

Microcontrollers

NOTE: For Online Session: Follow instructions emailed by John Paul.

A collaborative group exploring how computers can interact with the outside world through a range of sensors and controllers. Primarily we’ll be using the Raspberry Pi (http://raspberrypi.org) computer in conjunction with Arduinos (http://arduino.cc) and along the way we’ll learn about Python, C and C++ programming, digital and analogue electronics and about working together.

Electronics, Microcontrollers and Raspberry Pi session information