This year we learned one of the most important tasks this subject is able to provide – computer programming = coding; what it is, and even how to manage to create a program with some backup knowledge about the basic fundamentals of code. To briefly introduce you too, to the magical world of computer science you might want to know what it is in the first place. Even if you may have heard this concept once or twice it is okay to not really know what people are talking about when they use terms like “Terminal” or “de-bugging”. This is because only recent technological advances have given coding the sufficient amount of importance for it to be part of the school program; But don’t worry, we’ve got you=  coding is basically the computer “language” to develop apps, websites and software. It all runs on code. But, how does it work, you might be wondering in this precise moment; well,to put it simply, the code is what tells your computer what to do. Now, before you start panicking about the mere thought of machines being able to understand instructions, and will therefore in a near future develop an independent intelligence, take over and demolish the human race, stop: computers don’t understand words; they only understand the concepts of on and off. The computers capabilities are guided by on and of transitioners or switches. The transitory are represented as the digits 1 and 0 in your code. This means that an infinite number of combinations of these codes is what make your computer run, or do what it has to do. In order to be able to manage code, computer programming languages were formed such as python, perl, Java and many more. They each serve for different functions but are all mainly used to translate important commands into binary code.

The most valid benefits students achieve when learning about coding in such an early stage of life are the following…

• Hand crafting your own websites
• Becoming a career coder
• Starting a technological business
• Being able to understand how important tools we nowadays use for our everyday life work: computers
• With the further development and advance in technology, it will undoubtedly take up a big part of our working environment in the future: we might as well be prepared for it.

HOW DID WE DO IT?

How did we manage, as a bunch of 15 year olds, to be able to understand and even work with activities involving code based problem solving? Well, when introduced to it correctly, starting out with one of the most beginner – friendly programming language there is available, the journey of learning computer science is a step by step process that might require a little bit of patience at the beginning, because of its difficulty to properly understand, but once you do and start to slowly get along with it, it is a very fun activity to operate and the experience overall is very satisfying.

One of the most usual languages that come in action when you are freshly starting of in computer programming is Python. This is because python was specifically designed to be easy to work with and fun to use (fun is a great motivator when it comes to adolescents). Python handles a lot of complexity for it’s users, and therefore allows them to be more focused on learning programming concepts instead of having to be worrying about the details.

Even with pythons flexibility, it is very hard and takes a lot of effort to learn how to code on your very own. So we had a little help = “learning python the hard way” a book written by Zed Shaw, that guided us through our learning phases. This is how we made our way to succeed in learning Python: we worked through 52 amazingly crafted exercises. The system the author provides in his book so that you, as a reader, begin to read, write and think about code is simply brilliant:

It consists in reading the exercise carefully, making sure you can understand. The copying the code precisely, without copying and pasting (this is a method for you learn how to type and not forget your piece of code). After that watch the programs run and try to figure out how each piece of code contributed to the result you see after having executed it. Fix your mistakes if necessary.

This will allow you to think like a real coder, to process information of this kind and how to convert it. Some of the most relevant information this book can give, Which is also necessary to start writing good python software on your own will be present in the following list:

• Installing a complete python environment
• Organizing and writing code
• Basic mathematics
• Variables
• Strings and text
• Interacting with users
• Working with files
• Looping and logic
• Program design
• Python packaging
• Automated testing
• Basic game development
• Basic web development

We had the pleasure to talk to Isabelle Schwald, a graduate who experienced the subject of informatics a little different than we did, because of the time gap.

Here´s a collage of a part of our work in class and at home:

BlockCad

What is it?

BlocksCAD is an education technology company dedicated to creating tools that help students of all ages pursue their love of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. BlocksCAD, is a cloud-based 3D modeling tool that encourages users to learn math, computational thinking and coding concepts through visualization and designing models to be 3D printed. Its precise geometric input requirements make it ideal for learning and for creating designs with strict tolerances.

Silent teacher

What is it?

The silent teacher is a minimalist game where beginners can discover what coding is all about and the key concepts behind code, with no explanations given. Through several series of questions, the player is led to guess the rules of this language and learn from his own mistakes.

Objective

This game is an introduction to the concept of programming. After finishing Silent Teacher, a player will not necessarily be able to write code, even basic one, but has an overview of what code is and has mastered a few basic concepts about it.

Levels

As you can see, in the first exercise, you have to add the two numbers. How do we know that? Because between the two different number is a ”+”. It happens the same, with the two others exercise, but instead of adding the two numbers, you have to multiply or subtract, because between the two number is a “*” or a “-”.

In this exercise, there are variables. What does that mean? That means that the letters has special values (numbers) and this is how you know which value each letter has. To get the result right you have to add, multiply or subtract, depending the sign.

One of the concepts we learn this year, was the “True or False Table”, and how to use it. In this exercise we have to apply it. How do we know that? Because we can see these signs: “=”, “===”, “!===”, “<”, “or”, “and” or “>”.

In this exercise, we can tell that there are variables. This is nothing new. The new thing here, is the “a.length” that appears under that. This “word” means that you have to count how many letters the variable have (a).

In this exercise, we can find this new function called “return”. This word indicates the value of the variable or word that is over it.

BlocksCad and Silent Teacher

Activity Nr.10

Blockcad

 This new activity is something entirely new for us. We have never done a 3D object and we are very enthusiastic to do it. Our first question was what 3D object, to use in real life, could we  create . And our second question was how to create it.

 our first attempt

   Our second attempt

THE TEAM WORKING IN blockscad

After many hours, we end with our final work: a cup with our own name.

This video we explain how we create our cup:

Silent Teacher

Another activity is Silent Teacher. There are many functions, in which we can do like mathematics calculations. There are many levels. Depending on the level the calculation might be easier or more difficult.

 Trying to solve maths problems

This year is coming to an end and this is our last deadline!!

For our last NTYCX activity we must to talk about two different applications, silent teacher and BlocksCAD.

SILENT TEACHER

The idea of “Silent Teacher” is that the user discovers the basics of programming without any word or explanation. There is a mute professor that will make you several series of questions that will lead you to guess some rules and learn of your own mistakes. There is no text in the game so that it is accessible to any player whatever their language is.

We had a short interview with the creator of Silent Teacher.

US:”¿Was this program originally made for teaching how to code?”

HIM:”This is a side project, and the goal is not to teach how to code. The real goal is far less ambitious. I just wanted people to catch a glimpse of what is coding. It’s like stepping into un unknown world for a few minutes. And it’s not aimed at everybody. Some people are driven away by written explanations, or can feel patronized very quick, and I wanted to address that. Here, the first questions make you feel confident, then with tries and errors, by yourself (or apparently so) you understand a bit how this works.”

US:”¿How did yogurt the idea to create this?”

HIM:” I was never able to explain how code works to my wife. She is math-o-phobic and she never gave me the chance to explain… just the fact of explaining something like this scares her away. But one day, sitting next to her on the train, I opened my JavaScript console and began typing 3 + 4, then without a word I pointed the keyboard and screen to her… 20 minutes later we were doing functions and variables, without even a word. This is how this project was born.”

BLOCKS CAD

BlocksCAD is a program to learn the basics of coding where you can edit 2D and 3D objects with a lot of functions to later print it in 3D, this made us remember of scratch, another program to learn how to code. Instead of using “print” you use blocks with functions that the object you create must do.

This text can be found on BlocksCAD web page:

https://www.blockscad3d.com

BlocksCAD is an education technology company dedicated to creating tools that help students of all ages pursue their love of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).  Our signature product, BlocksCAD, is a cloud-based 3D modeling tool that encourages users to learn math, computational thinking and coding concepts through visualization and designing models to be 3D printed.

Words of the BlocksCAD CEO:

“Our unique value proposition is that we empower educators to enhance their teaching with 3D printers, whereby we effectively bridge the gap between the engagements that technology offers and student learning”

BlocksCAD CEO

BlocksCAD helps educators at the intersection of math, coding, and design.

Realizing the challenges of the existing commercial CAD (computer aided design) software from an academic perspective, Solomon Menashi, CEO; and Jennie Yoder CTO, founded BlocksCAD and created the BlocksCAD for Education platform to address the needs that teachers and students encounter when using 3D printers and makerspaces.

Agustin Klockner May, Santiago Pacheco Kramer, Tobias Hoefner and Santiago Hinz

Catalina Cettolo, Renata Nicolini, Sofía Salinas Rivera, Julieta Echarri

Last post!

NTYCX  

Introduction

We have been working very hard this entire year and finally it is coming to an end.

This last post is very important because it is our last mark and that’s why our teacher decided to do something easier and more enjoyable.

The programs we have been using are called BlocksCad and Silent Teacher.

FIRST IMPRESSION, BLOCKSCAD  

• Reminds us of scratch
• It’s not that difficult to understand it because we have experience with programs like this
• It is interesting how many different shapes you can create and put together
• You can combine the colors and choose how much of every color you want to use

Similarities with Python

To create the object we have to do a lot of things that we also did Python this year. 

These two programs have the same concept in which they use the coding to do an end result you can use, every day. 

 (BlocksCat) 

(Python)

As it we said earlier, blocks can remind us of Python, because, we think the principal similarity is that, while coding or as you do in BlockCad, putting pieces, you become the result you have been looking for. Another one is that without on component or maybe a word, the project is not going to be the same, so basically it is like a pyramid and if you take one piece, everything falls apart. 

Finished Products

We think that it is very cool that we can create an object that we imagine.

We created some examples for you to see.

As you can see, you can create whatever object you want and decide different things, for example, the color of the parts of the object.

FIRST IMPRESSION, SILENT TEACHER

• Easy ?? : Is this program so easy?
• NOT MATHS AGAIN!
• Variables?
• “This feels like a game but it is actually a programming program”

Progression of Difficulty

At first, we didn’t understand a thing, because most of our classmates were saying that this program was very difficult but our first problem was “2+2” and we were confused, as we thought this was very easy and not really similar to what we have been doing with Python.

But as we were going forward, the problems went from easier to very difficult.

There were variables involved and then we immediately, tried until we remembered what we had to do. Once we understood the question and we connected it, with what we did in the first Term, the exercises became much easier to complete.

At the end of all levels, we were very proud of ourselves, because we remembered the majority of the technicalities of Python.

Conclusion

We believe, at the beginning of the year, it was very hard to understand the concepts explained in class. It was almost like learning another language. With time, we understood coding is everywhere we look. Every game, computer, social media platform, can’t live without codes. So for us, this learning experience, has made us grow and understand, how what we learn in class, can be seen on a day to day basis.

1. Introduction

Last demonstration about Coding

What is our goal?

So as you may know we´ve been working since the beginning of the year with coding, mostly with Python and Powershell. Coding is not something easy to do, not even to learn, but is not as hard as it looks if you are really interested. So for the last part of our work we wanted to show the things we learned over the year by applying it to other programs.

What we used:

Silent Teacher

BlocksCAD

What you can do:

• Silent Teacher:

1.  Learn Maths!
2. Learn different concepts of coding (ex; lists, variables, functions, etc.)
3.  Win a certificate! (if you are able to pass all the levels)

• BlocksCAD:

1.  Understand the 3D dimension
2.  Understand the operation of a programming
3.  Make a 3D object in which form you like and if you want to print it (imagine a spaceship or a building)

What you should need:

Video 1: help by Silent Teacher

Video 2: Help by BlocksCAD

What you can find interesting:

What you may miss:

So this is our final Tutorial (maybe) hope you liked what we have done and that our post, videos, and audios helped. This year was a real challenge but in the end, we have learned a lot. Thankyou!

Everyone is really anxious for the end of this school year and we are really exited to explain our last activity for this term. We used two compleatly new websites called blocks CAD and Silent Teacher.

We recorded an audio explaining how these websites work and the way they help students nowadays.

We prepared a table in which we compare some aspects of both websites and summarized the most important things said in the audio.

Many of you may still wonder how silent teacher works and how it looks like and maybe also how it relates with notepad or IDLE, which are the coding platforms we used all year long, so we made a video that will help you out with that.

Last, but not least,  we made a 3D figure using blocksCAD so that  it would be easier to explain how it works and the way to put all these figures together. We don’t think it was particularly difficult, but really long. Choosing every piece and taking it to its correct place so that everything fits allright may sometimes be really tyring, but we did it. We chose to make a Grizzly Bear. We hope you enjoy it.

We had fun working on this project, although we didn’t have that much time to work on it. We  believe ti was a good way to come out of the usual python and notepad coding exercises and try something new. As an ending to this last post, we put together a picture collage that generally sums up our work this term.

On the top row you can see a certificate we won for compleating all the levels of silent teacher nd some of the problems on the web page. On the bottom left corner there is a screenshot of BlocksCAD’s main page with a started project. and on the other side a picture a team member took while working in the library. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Team Members:  Juana Casado, Louisa Habig and Nicolas Martone