We need the basics of electronics Makeblock Ultimate Robot Kits, and computing to begin working on our coding and electronic projects in our Coding Club.
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
About My Students
Star, Roberto, and Bryan are three very enthusiastic students who enjoy taking things apart. Over the last year they have gone through all of the Lego kits, made little bots, and are now active participants in the Coding Club. They are the leaders of the new branch of the club: Electronics!
Star, Ricardo, and Bryan are working with tech volunteers on coding projects and over the course of the semester have brainstormed how to include electronics into coding. They want to take things apart and put things together. They suggest ideas and work with the volunteers on how to realize their big plans. For example, in the beginning of the year they wanted to code race cars that would race on a track controlled by their cell phones. They wanted to make the cars and track using the 3D Printer we have and electronics. To be honest, I have no idea how to even start a project like that. They were not discouraged and instead worked with the volunteers on how to learn to code, design using the 3D printer, and now electronics. We have one old Raspberry Pi kit to practice with and they want bigger! Their enthusiasm has been contagious, and now many students are trying to figure out how to incorporate all of the skills of the Coding Club to work on large projects.
All of the projects students are working on are student-created. They have the idea and work with volunteers on a plan. They are learning the various skills (coding, design, and tinkering) to make their projects a reality. More often than not, students are used to filling out worksheets without really thinking about what is expected or what is needed. With these projects, they are doing all of the work and goal setting. This is an extremely useful academic skill, because they are figuring out what is needed.
In Their Own Words
Over the year we have been learning to code and design, and now we want to put the skills to work! We have done research on projects that use all of our skills. For example, Ricardo wants to design a car that he will 3D Print, use electronics to get it to move, and then code it so he can use his cell phone to race it. One team of students want code the LED lights in the library to their favorite songs. We want to see how all of our new skills can be used to problem solve and make ideas happen.
Our teacher librarian is learning with us. She is guiding us, giving us space, and providing resources but we do all the work. One day, we just sat around and talked about cool things we want to do, and no one told us no. Instead, the volunteers and the librarian told us YES. We are going to lead our own learning and teach each other when we get stuck. We are going to be our own teachers and teach our teacher.
We live in a city with so many tech companies yet few of us even have computers with the Internet at home. We like coming to school because we get to use WIFI or the Internet. There are not a lot of places to go in our neighborhood, so we have to use the school. On YouTube, we see kids our age doing so many cool things and we want to do that too. The Coding Club is our way to learn new tech skills, talk with each other to find ways to make things happen, and work with real techies.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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