Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Submitted to
CRN 10234
Anar Mehraliyev
Manzar Gasimzada
Khayala Haziyeva
Abstract: A campaign called “Hour of Code” helps children learn the fundamentals of programming with one-hour
introduction classes. Our project from Principles of IT course was also selecting a school and teaching children the
basics of programming and algorithm-building in a form of Hour of Code activity. We selected a school situated in
Sumgait named “Chaytumas School”. The activity consisted of two parts: presentation and tutoring. Children were
taught to code by playing a classical maze game. Results showed that only one of them, who was a boy, was
interested in computer engineering; however, all of the children enjoyed the activity. It was recommended that there
should be more activities like this and girls should be encouraged to have more information about this field.
1. Introduction
Today the interest towards computer science is growing at a considerably high rate.
Especially, young generation have become involved in different aspects of computer
science, such as programming, design, modelling and etc., and this helps to improve
cognitive abilities in children (Clements, et al., 1984:1051). A campaign called “Hour of
Code” helps children learn the fundamentals of programming with one-hour introduction
classes. In each Hour of Code activity, instructors choose a game that requires basic
algorithm-building skills and teach children fundamental aspects of programming by
playing the game together. Hour of Code activity takes place in more than 170 countries
with more than 36 languages which makes it an international activity (Educational
Horizons, 2014:9).
Our project from Principles of IT course was also selecting a school and teaching
children the basics of programming and algorithm-building in a form of Hour of Code
activity
2. Preparation
2.1. Selecting the school. We selected a school situated in Sumgait named “Chaytumas
School”. It was the school where one of our group members Khayala Haziyeva had
studied. For that reason, we thought we would be able to get permission easily to have a
one-hour Hour of Code class. Also, we decided to work with 6th grade children.
2.2. Game Selection. For the activity, we chose the game called “Classic Maze”
(https://studio.code.org/hoc/1). It was a classic labyrinth game in which the main
character of the game was required to move forward, turn left or right and repeat these
actions which, we thought, were appropriate for 6th grade children.
Commands used
3. Activity Day
The activity day was planned for 7th of December. On that day, at 10:00 am we arrived at
the school. After some preparation we started the activity. 20 children from the 6th grade
were chosen to participate in the activity.
3.1. Presentation. First, we began with a Power Point presentation. Manzar Gasimzada
spoke about ADA university: academic environment at ADA, program of study
(Information Technologies, Computer Science, and Computer Engineering), and
application policy (SAT and state exams, IELTS, TOEFL). Surprisingly, the majority of
the children did not have information about ADA. It was probably associated with their
young age. The children were asked what they wanted to become when they grew up.
The answers varied from teacher to architecture. Figure 1 illustrates the professions that
the children preferred:
Figure 1
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4
3 4 4
2 3
1 2 2 2 1 1 1
0
As seen from the Figure 1, only two of the children were interested in engineering who
were boys, and only one of them was interested in computer engineering. The Second
part of the presentation was about the concept of programming and was presented by
Anar Mehraliyev. This part began with the question “What is Programming?” and the
children were expected to answer with their own descriptions of the concept. Majority of
them answered as “programming is about creating programs” though they did not have a
very clear insight of the term. After explaining that programming is also a tool for
creating computer games, they became more interested. When they were asked what kind
of games they would like to create, the answers were different: patriotic games,
modelling games, car driving games and etc.
3.4. After the tutoring. Due to time limitations only 10 puzzles could be solved. When the
tutoring was finished the children were given certificates with their names on them. The
children were very happy and satisfied with the activity. They repeatedly asked us to
come again. Overall, the activity lasted a little more than one hour.
We want express our special thanks to Shamama khanim, Zahire khanim and Vugar bey
for making this activity happen, and also one of the children Subhan for helping us set up
the projector.
References
Clements, Douglas & Gullo, Dominic. (1984). Effects of Computer Programming on
Young Children's Cognition. Journal of Educational Psychology. 76. 1051-1058.
10.1037/0022-0663.76.6.1051.
Computer science can feed a lot of dreams. (2014). Educational Horizons, 93(1), 8-11.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/26453570