This was the challenge that I was the most nervous to do! The concept of “coding” is something that I have always been nervous about. When I was in the later years of my primary school journey (about 12 years ago), technology applications were not yet sufficient enough in educating students about coding and game design. So unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to be exposed to this type of education at a young age, like students today are!
However, now that technology has advanced and has become more accessible, most primary schools are now being able to provide their students with one-to-one laptops/iPads with keyboards or computer labs. The Australian Curriculum has emulated this development and have progressed their learning guidelines to ensure all student are given the opportunity to learn about contemporary and emerging technologies that make up the society that we live in! ACARA (2014) states, ‘in an increasingly technological and complex world, it is important to develop knowledge and confidence to critically analyse and creatively respond to design challenges.’
The curriculum links that relate to the game design challenge are:
Level 6: Design, modify and follow simple algorithms involving sequences of steps, branching, and iteration (repetition) (ACTDIP019)
Implementing
Level 4: Implement simple digital solutions as visual programs with algorithms involving branching (decisions) and user input (ACTDIP011)
Level 6: Implement digital solutions as simple visual programs involving branching, iteration (repetition), and user input (ACTDIP020)
Evaluating
Level 6: Explain how student solutions and existing information systems are sustainable and meet current and future local community needs (ACTDIP021)
Collaborating and managing
Level 6: Plan, create and communicate ideas and information, including collaboratively online, applying agreed ethical, social and technical protocols (ACTDIP022)
(ACARA, 2014)
Prior to starting this challenge, I had a pre-conceived notion of “coding” being one of the most puzzling technological areas to grasp, and to be honest when I read the directions for this challenge, I thought that my assumption was correct! I will admit that this pessimistic attitude and fixed mindset that I had towards the challenge heading into it, may have impacted my enjoyment and overall success towards the challenge. In relation to this mindset, in my personal experiences, I have noticed that during my Praxis placements and my work as a teacher aid, young people don’t have this same attitude technology.
In general, they are more confident and willing to embrace the newness and challenges that modern technology offers, as they know no different! They are able to adapt to the constant changes and growth, because they have been brought up with it and only know the creativity that it offers. Thus, they are not afraid to be creative and teach themselves along the way. They have such an open and growth-mindset and just keep on trying! I know that myself and other people my age (although not everyone) are very rigid, perhaps because we haven’t been reared with it since we were born or exposed to it at a young age.
Scratch Challenge
Despite my fixed mindset heading into this challenge, I was surprised and happy that I found the beginning of it very easy. I was able to create the Shark costume and the sprite behaviour easy. I also found the part with adding the fish for the shark to eat relatively easy aswell.
However, the next part is where I first started to become pretty challenging and when I needed to re-read over the instructions a bit to understand my next move. I have to note that I printed the instructions off in black and white ink in order to try to save money! When I started to delve into the coding part, I realised I definitely needed to print into colour so I could follow the “motion, looks, sound, events, control, sensing and operations” easier.
Adding the code so that when the shark eats the fish was when I really started to struggle. I had to fiddle quite a bit for it to work and start again a few times, because I was trying to rush through it and didn’t code it properly. This is when I learnt that it is so important to complete the steps properly, because if you skip a step (even if it is very minor) the final product will not work! This takes patience, but as stated I think students love being able to problem solve and work collaboratively to manage challenges. This can be explicitly linked to content description: Collaborating and managing: Level 6: Plan, create and communicate ideas and information, including collaboratively online, applying agreed ethical, social and technical protocols (ACTDIP022)
This was most noticeable when I came to the part of adding the poisonous pufferfish and when the shark touches it and gets shocked! This part took me a while, as I failed to include an “if else” control and included an “if” control instead. After I attempted the game a few times, I realised that this was the mistake and changed it!
Overall, I think the most difficult part was just getting use to the layout and terminology of the website. After I got use to the different codes and the colours that they were, I began to develop an open mindset and wasn’t scared to trial and error my way out of tricky situations.
I still think that this is an area that I will need to have more experience and exposure with prior to teaching it in the classroom. However, this challenge has taught me to just have a go and learn along the way by making errors!
Lastly, I made some minor modifications. I added more fish, as I knew how to code them easily, so I just had to copy how I coded for the first one! I also changed the colour of the pufferfish to purple.
Reference
ACARA. (2014). Design and Technologies. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/technologies/design-and-technologies/
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