Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Free Programming Resources

Most Popular Programming Languages Sought by Employers:

Python Learning Resources:

Sound:

Google Charts:

Create a free and easy blog:

Collaboration:

Time Management:

Saturday, July 5, 2014

CoderDojo Meetup Plans for 7/9/2014

Coder Dojo 7/9-Topic will be Morse Code and other forms of non-verbal communication

During the last 3 weeks we have worked with sound files. We have created music sound track using Soundation. We worked with sound files from birds. We learned how save sound files and embed theme into web pages. This week we are going to work with interpreting and creating morse code. We will embed javascript into an html page that will interpret and play the morse code we have created.
We will use this page to create the actual MP3 files.

Morse Resource

See example: Online Morse Code Generator.


Morse code began being used in 1830. It is still in use today. History of Morse code


Eventually the plan is to go back to soundation and incorporate the bird sounds and morse code into a music mix-up. The side effect is the kids learn little about history and that programming is another form of language. At Coder Dojo we strive to use conventional tools in unconventional ways. 

Please remind the kids to bring headphones since they will be working with sound files. 






Thursday, July 3, 2014

7/2/2014 Coder Dojo Meetup

Build a Very Basic HTML Page

We had more than a full house tonight, about 15 kids not including parents. The topic was building an html page based on a particular topic. The attendees were to select a bird song from the following page http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/songwav.html and build a basic web page around their bird of choice. Requirements:
  • Create a folder for their source files
  • Find pictures and information regarding their chosen bird.
  • Save the following files the folder (bird song sound file, picture of their chosen bird species)
  • Create a text file and create a basic html page that displayed a heading for the page, some descriptive text, the image of the bird, and a link to the bird's song file.
I gave the kids the requirements then let them figure out how to reach the end result. The goal was to get the kids and parents to work together to find the solutions. It was a little frustrating for the kids until the finally started helping each other. The result was great.