Checking Up on Individual Projects

We have two weeks until our Showcase of Projects and I’ve been checking in with all of the Code Club members to see how they are doing.  There are no team or pair projects this round which I find surprising but this year’s 4th-graders are very much unique individuals.  I tried putting two students together on one project, but they just couldn’t work together.  So they each have a similar project.  This does mean that there will be a lot of projects to present at the Showcase.

 

Keep away from Bendy

 

The character Bendy from Bendy and the Ink Machine game is featured in a couple of chase games.  How these nine-year-olds know about this horror game, beats me.  I hadn’t heard of it, but then again, I don’t like scary things.

 

Virtual Pet Dragon

 

Most of the students are in good shape.  The two virtual pet projects just need a few tweaks. The trivia and math quiz projects seem fine.

 

 

 

Answer the riddles 

The Riddler is well coded, but I think I need to show this coder how to make his own blocks for the “you answered it wrong”.  He has duplicated his code in each “else” loop. Perfect opportunity to teach code reuse or refactoring. Now I finally have a reason to show them how those dark purple blocks work.

 

 

This code shows up in each of his “else” statements.  

 

 

The flying cat and maze games could use some more work, but now that I’ve seen the state of everyone’s code, I think we might spend some time this week talking about game testing, how important it is, how to do it well and how to fix the glitches.

Equally important as testing for bugs, is to test for fun-ness.  We want our games to be fun.  Yes, we do.

Engineering Design Process

This week I will become the “project manager” for some 30 Scratch projects between my two Code Clubs.  It is Design Review week and the students will meet with me to go over their Game/Project Design Document before beginning to code their own projects to share at our Showcase for parents at the end of the term.

Last time we met I handed out the GDD (Game Design Document) for them to work on and complete before I meet with them for the design review process this week.

I’ve updated the GDD again.  (It is a work in progress).  This time I’ve added the EiE diagram of the Engineering Design Process to the front page and used language to support this process idea within. We use EiE curriculum in school, in our Hypertherm Hope grant supported after school clubs and summer Title I engineering camps. Many students have seen this before.

In the “Ask” phase I explained that they would have an opportunity to make their own Scratch project and opened it up for their many questions.  We also spent some time looking at past 5 Code Club Showcase projects to see what others have done. (I really hope the llamas don’t get remixed again this time around.  They are hilarious the first time you watch, but… well, even the students were tired of them by the end)

I also gave them some time to “Imagine” and sent the “Plan” GDD home with them.  Some were quick to come up with their ideas and completed the GDD before Code Club ended.  There will be some time this week while I meet with the groups to work on their “Plan”.

Once the “Plan” is approved it is time to “Create” then test and “Improve”.

Also new to the GDD is the Team Member Jobs plan. – I am letting them pick a partner of their choice (this is a club, not school) but I’ve found it is often ambiguous who will work on what part.  I’m hoping this part of the GDD will help me help them get work done.

Cute story:  One of my high school volunteers came to me, concerned, with a question about the “working with a partner” option.  A code club member had asked him, the high schooler, to be his partner. So I had to specify to the nine year old, “You can work together with any other code club member, but the high school volunteers will be helping everyone and can’t be your partner.”

Game Design Review

Last week game designs were due and with the help of my two parent volunteers, we were able to go through and review each design.  I am very lucky to have great volunteers.  We divided the task between us. My high school student volunteer manned the lab while we separately met with each student or pair to go over their design. We had time to meet with everyone and they all had time to start their projects before the end of Code Club.  Now I’m looking back through the designs once again.

Dodge all the obstacles. Get at least 10 points per level and have fun!!

Some chose partners, some were on their own.  Most had filled out the game design document.  Some were very detailed, others just had rough ideas.

It took a while to think about what the game should do… but after awhile one game popped into my head.

In this student’s game you are a hedgehog that moves around trying to catch bugs to eat.  Here’s how this 4th grade designer describes the game flow.

If you eat a bug that isn’t orange, you will get a point.  If you eat a bug that is orange, the bugs get a point and you will lose a point. To win you have to score more points than the bugs.

I think that is a totally do-able project and I look forward to seeing it progress.

Some had trouble using the drawing editor on Scratch.  I don’t know the best solution.  We could try scanning a drawing in.  I know you can take and add photos and import other artwork.  They might have to learn to live with what they can do.

The game design below looks complicated. I’m a bit concerned because I’m not sure I could code this in Scratch.  We’ll see how well they manage.  I foresee them compromising some of their goals to get something working.

Looks like a lot of creative work and debugging will be taking place at Code Club this week! Awesome way to spend Hour of Code week.