Reinforcing the creativity gene is an important aspect of Self Development Academy’s curriculum.
Who doesn’t have fond memories of transforming into a caped crusader, creating bright beautiful paintings and making up our own games as young children? When we are young, our natural creative gene is busy guiding our play and thinking. As children grow, however, creative opportunities seem to decrease.
At Self Development Academy, coding class is the perfect opportunity to stimulate creative thinking in today’s digital world. We are fortunate to have Ms. Laura Meyer, a scientist turned teacher, to introduce the world of coding to our students.
Ms. Meyer, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate, utilizes Scratch, a visual programming language designed by the MIT Media Lab, to teach students computer programming. Last year, Ms. Meyer piloted a coding class at Self Development Academy. Students validated the program’s success with remarks such as, “Coding gives me the opportunity to try different things and not give up.” Another student remarked, “Working with partners helps me learn.”
According to Ms. Meyer, Scratch is a computer language allowing students to think creatively and work with partners on challenging material, while thinking critically about goals. “While typical programming languages require students to type in lines of code, Scratch already has blocks of code, which users can move to accomplish a task,” she said.
As students progress, they will begin to define and create their own blocks to use in their creations. “This bridges the gap between visual language and the more typical programming languages,” stated Ms. Meyer. Because Scratch also is interactive, teachers and students can access and comment on student work as it progresses. “This gives helpful, real-time feedback for students as they work through problems together,” explained Ms. Meyer.
Self Development Academy students will have coding opportunities to create animation games connected to the curriculum. What an engaging way to stimulate the creative gene among Self Development Academy students.
Building creative thinking skills aligns perfectly with the school’s philosophy of every child can learn. Coding class prompts students to be creators and not just consumers. Self Development Academy’s educational environment gives students the opportunity to build and refine the foundational skills necessary to be successful.
Since 2009, Self Development Academy has ranked among the top 10 schools in Arizona. For more information on Self Development, please call (480) 641-2640, or visit our website at www.selfdevelopmentacademy.com.