BlogPost1 “Code-talk”

I am starting this blog with my robotics students this morning while they are reflecting in their own blogs. I introduced a strategy called code-talk, to learn to read, write and understand code. We are learning the C programming language using BotBall Wombat robots. (https://www.kipr.org/botball) Using a program to control servo motors I made the program available on paper, on the projected screen and digitally in Google Classroom in a servo-motor lab. The program is in the C programming language and also in a flow-chart in pseudocode along side. Going around the room each student read a line of code and we talked about and answered questions about functions, variables, parameters, syntax, abstraction and meaning about each line. Students blogged in their own blogsites, reflecting about the experience- answering their own who, what, how, when, where and why questions about “code-talk”. Students shared one line from their blog posts and agreed code-talk helped them feel more confident about reading, writing and running programs on their robots. Next week we will make our servo arms wave and go to positions needed to pick up and move objects around a game board. I have so much fun making programming understandable to students at all levels. Have fun today!!