Menu

Code Fun - CS Education Week @ the MGHPCC

January 19, 2016

Local elementary & middle school students solved problems, designied projects & expressed themselves creatively all the while exploring computer programming during a week of fun coding activities.

Pictures from the event are on the MGHPCC Flickr page
Holyoke Codes kicked off national Computer Science Education Week on Monday, December 7, 2015, with two sessions of Scratch Jr, one dedicated to Girls Inc. and the other open to the public. With ScratchJr, kids ages 5 - 7 can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process they learn to solve problems, design project and express themselves creatively on the computer. ScratchJr, a free introductory programming language that runs on iPads and Android tables, is inspired by the popular Scratch programming language used by millions of people ages 8 and up. People can share their ScratchJr and Scratch projects if they wish to. For more information, and to see shared projects, please see http://www.scratchjr.org and https://scratch.mit.edu/.
On Tuesday, a group of middle-schoolers from Holyoke’s Connections after-school program explored many of the Hour of Code tutorials provided by Code.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding computer science education. Kids and adults can solve puzzles, create animations and stories, and make their own games while being introduced to both basic coding and essential computer science concepts. The tutorials present a series of challenges – successful completion earns a certificate! Hour of Code tutorials are always available at https://code.org/learn.
Wednesday, Girls Inc middle-schoolers each created their own webpage, programming in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and a little bit of Javascript to make them interactive! Several participants presented their work. It was great to see what they accomplished in just an hour or so! Later, we enjoyed a Girls’ Hour of Code, trying out more of Code.org’s tutorials in a family-oriented girls-only workshop.
Thursday found another Holyoke Connections after-school group, this time second through fifth graders, exploring the Hour of Code projects and tutorials. Many more certificates were earned! In the evening, a family workshop taught how to create “mods” for the game Minecraft using Javascript. Minecraft is an on-line environment that incorporates building, adventuring and competing, at various levels of difficulty. “Mods” enable the player to creatively add their own elements to the game.
On Friday, a group of about twelve adults enjoyed Coding and Cocktails at Gateway City Arts. Aided by Holyoke Codes guides, participants explored several topics in an unstructured environment, including an intro to Python programming and developing a webpage.
Over 150 area elementary & middle school students solved problems, designed projects & expressed themselves creatively all the while exploring computer programming during a week of fun coding activities.
In all, over 150 youth, plus a few dozen parents, teachers and guardians, participated over the course of the week.

Related

Massachusetts Schools Mark Computer Science Education Week with Activities UMass News & Media Relations
Hacking with Holyoke Codes MGHPCC News
Story image courtesy Girls Inc.

Research projects

A Future of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Yale Budget Lab
Volcanic Eruptions Impact on Stratospheric Chemistry & Ozone
Towards a Whole Brain Cellular Atlas
Tornado Path Detection
The Kempner Institute - Unlocking Intelligence
The Institute for Experiential AI
Taming the Energy Appetite of AI Models
Surface Behavior
Studying Highly Efficient Biological Solar Energy Systems
Software for Unreliable Quantum Computers
Simulating Large Biomolecular Assemblies
SEQer - Sequence Evaluation in Realtime
Revolutionizing Materials Design with Computational Modeling
Remote Sensing of Earth Systems
Quantum Computing in Renewable Energy Development
Pulling Back the Quantum Curtain on ‘Weyl Fermions’
New Insights on Binary Black Holes
NeuraChip
Network Attached FPGAs in the OCT
Monte Carlo eXtreme (MCX) - a Physically-Accurate Photon Simulator
Modeling Hydrogels and Elastomers
Modeling Breast Cancer Spread
Impact of Marine Heatwaves on Coral Diversity
IceCube: Hunting Neutrinos
Genome Forecasting
Global Consequences of Warming-Induced Arctic River Changes
Exact Gravitational Lensing by Rotating Black Holes
Evolution of Viral Infectious Disease
Evaluating Health Benefits of Stricter US Air Quality Standards
Ephemeral Stream Water Contributions to US Drainage Networks
Energy Transport and Ultrafast Spectroscopy Lab
Electron Heating in Kinetic-Alfvén-Wave Turbulence
Discovering Evolution’s Master Switches
Dexterous Robotic Hands
Developing Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Energy Future
Detecting Protein Concentrations in Assays
Denser Environments Cultivate Larger Galaxies
Deciphering Alzheimer's Disease
Dancing Frog Genomes
Cyber-Physical Communication Network Security
Asteroid Data Mining
Analyzing the Gut Microbiome
Adaptive Deep Learning Systems Towards Edge Intelligence
Accelerating Rendering Power
ACAS X: A Family of Next-Generation Collision Avoidance Systems
Neurocognition at the Wu Tsai Institute, Yale
Computational Modeling of Biological Systems
Computational Molecular Ecology
Social Capital and Economic Mobility
Building for Floods
Better Pathogen Targeting
Tracking Environmental Health Risks
AI for Cancer Diagnosis
Microplastic-Free by Design
Supporting Data-intensive Social Science
Sailing the Symbiosis Seascape
Wrangle Range Modeling
Shining a Light on Dark Matter
Grid Responsive Data Centers
Multifunctional 3D-Printed Materials
AI Pareidolia
Computing Hidden Health Threats from Heat
Staving off the Banana Apocalypse
CRISPR Mice, Smarter Science
AI That Speaks Human About Health
A Safer Way to See Inside Cells
How Monkeys - and Machines - See in 3D
FlowER: AI for Predicting Chemical Reactions
Bone Ratios and Big Data
Supercomputers Reveal Ancient Atmospheric Battle
All Research Projects

Collaborative projects

ALL Collaborative PROJECTS

Outreach & Education Projects

See ALL Scholarships
100 Bigelow Street, Holyoke, MA 01040