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US:”¿Was this program originally made for teaching how to code?”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