Third-graders in Rebecca Coatti’s class at Cottage Lane Elementary School are assuming the role of software engineers tasked with debugging code and creating their own programs with the help from Technology teacher Kimberly Guzas!
Students first observed Guzas’ program on Scratch — a block-based programming platform. As they viewed a “sprite” character moving in the wrong direction across the screen, students worked to analyze the code for mistakes, test solutions and make corrections. Third-graders explored blocks of code that determine the direction, speed and rotation of the sprite to figure out what was causing the issue and resolving it.
“By actively debugging this code and your own code, you can become better programmers,” explained Guzas. “Noting the errors that were made and learning from them will help you as you continue to create your own programs!”
Following the debugging activity, students began personal projects by selecting their backgrounds, sprite characters and block coding to control motion, sound and other variables.
