Greenfield CoderDojo

It is with a good deal of sadness that I need to inform all followers of the Greenfield CoderDojo that we have decided to close our Dojo.

We started our Dojo in March of 2018. Our vision was threefold: 1) convince every kid that they could learn to code, 2) encourage persistence as they learned to code, 3) prepare them for computer science courses offered in their schools. However, for me, a just-as-important goal was to make each and every kid that joined us go home feeling a little bit better about themselves.

I know most of the you will not go on to be software developers. However, you will all know what coding is about and that with it, you are only confined by your imagination.

Kids: Thank you for attending our Dojo. I will certainly miss all of your smiling faces. You are amazing!

Parents: Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with us.

Mentors: Thank you for passing on your passion for coding.

Volunteers: Thank you for seeing value in giving your time.

Sponsor: Thank every NineStar Connect associate who made our Dojo possible.

Myron

I read an article published in Edutopia (George Lucas Educational Foundation) the other day. I apologize to the author, as I did not record his/her name. However, one thought in the article was so meaningful, I decided to share it with our Greenfield CoderDojo:

"Those mistakes are part of the learning process. You can't expect to always get everything right when you are learning. It would be like going to basketball practice but not taking any shots because you are afraid that you might miss. Yes, you are going to miss. Missing a goal is how you get better at taking shots."

I hope everyone who was able to attend our November session had an extra helping of fun in preparation for Thanksgiving! As I mentioned at the session, we will not be having a December session. The NineStar Connect Conference center is very busy in December with Christmas get togethers and we believe it is important to make way for these.

However, I will be selecting and sending out some coding projects from the Hour of Code in December for the kids to have some holiday coding fun. https://hourofcode.com/us

Myron

Hour of Code: Anybody can Learn Use computer science to explore, play, and create!

In 1995, Steve Jobs said “Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer…. Because it teaches you how to think.”

Want to read more about how computer science helps students perform better in other subjects?

CS helps students outperform in school, college, and workplace Children who study computer science perform better in other subjects, excel at problem-solving, and are 17% more likely to attend college.

Below is a link to a very short article entitled, "Study shows how math, science identity in students affects college, career outcomes." Here is the takeaway: Studies like these are why we try so hard to make every kid's experience with coding a positive one at our Dojo.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221003132743.htm

In our October session, the experienced coders worked on adding fireballs to their platform game. How cool is that?

Well, September is almost over and I am just getting around to posting photos from this month's session. As you can see, one of our members just received a code.org hat award. The NineStar Connect Nerds funded over $200 in other awards. We also had four new coders attend. For our projects, we continued building a platform game, grew a dragonfly, caught a bus, and got silly. If you had fun, please sign up and tell your friends to sign up for the October 2nd session. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/greenfield-coderdojo-live-tickets-424739686837

We had FIVE newbies this past Sunday. Please tell your friends about our Greenfield CoderDojo. Keep those newbies coming!

We made our micro:bit project optional this session. That change allowed our experienced coders more time to work on their Arcade and Scratch projects if they wanted, while still allowing the rest of us to have fun with our micro:bits!

Greenfield CoderDojo Live! The Greenfield CoderDojo - sponsored by the Ninestar Connect Nerds - live meeting!

We tried a quite complex micro:bit project with YouTube video instruction. The project was challenging, but I hope fun. Wasn't Emil (the young boy in the video) just too cute! Thanks to all coders, parents/caregivers, and mentors for hanging in there!

This effort is driven by code.org.

A message from over 500 business and nonprofit leaders The undersigned have joined forces to deliver a bipartisan message about opportunity and the American Dream.

Here is a quote from Hadi Partovi, Founder of code.org: "The days of computer science being relegated to extracurricular activities or add-ons to lessons when time permits are over. Computer science is dominating the educational landscape bringing research, application, engagement and opportunity to students, of all ages and abilities, across the world."