Girls Rock Coding + Making

At NYGH I created, managed, taught, documented and assessed, an integrated twelve week Making (prototyping) and coding program involving the entire Sec 1 / 7th grade cohort (368 students). I engaged Roboto Coding Academy, as a partner for coding curriculum development and teaching the coding classes.

Classes were split so weekly lessons alternated between Coding and Making. This was a huge undertaking, but Ed Tech tools like Google Classroom and teaching techniques like Flipped Classroom, were essential for managing the content and flow of the whole experience. Students were also permitted to take their Micro:bit and project supplies home, to encourage more time than a once a week experience for Tinkering and Learning.

In each class, Students were randomly paired to encourage collaboration. Each student created an individual component that worked together with their partner’s creation. Student Makers could choose between creating an E-Wearable or Make Something Move (using a servo motor). As part of the criteria, each Micro:bit was coded to be a remote control that triggered an action in the other partner’s Micro:bit creation. This made for interesting and sometimes unexpected outcomes!

Beyond the Making and Coding skill criteria for each project type, students were inspired to be imaginative and have fun tinkering anything they wanted! The program culminated in video submissions of their work and partner presentations within each class.