ESSO in Action
Every Wednesday at ESSO Junior Computer Programming, we teach kids how to play with turtles! Working with local middle schoolers, we introduce them to the wondrous world of computer science by starting them off with Pencilcode, a beautiful animation interface that lets them drag blocks of code into position, animating turtles that zip around the screen and draw pretty patterns, navigate mazes or shoot down asteroids. Our goal is to show all kids that computer science can be fascinating, fun and limited only by their imagination, so we work with students—almost all of whom have no experience in coding before JCP—to ease them into the basics of writing code. Pencilcode is an intuitive and aesthetically beautiful interface, so it’s a snap for tutors and kids alike to learn.
Here at JCP, we spend our days teaching students because we believe that coding is a vital skill for students in the 21st century. The field of computer science is rapidly expanding, and students who have some exposure to it early on will be more likely to stick with it as they grow up—maybe they’ll even build the next Facebook or Khan Academy!
Perhaps more importantly, teaching students how to code teaches them a far more valuable array of skills than knowing how to animate turtles. Coding teaches us how to break down our thoughts and plans into a series of logical steps. It teaches us persistence, when we have to hunt down the infuriating bugs buried in our programs (shout-out to every computer science class I’ve ever taken). And coding teaches us how to think creatively—far from being a cold, clinical series of steps, grappling with a problem in code often leads us to brilliant, beautiful solutions that make us smile because of how clever they are.
At JCP, we really hope to show students how coding is for everyone: Oftentimes, people say in response to coding, “Oh, I’m not a numbers person!” or “I just don’t think in the same way as programmers,” to which we say—nuts! You just haven’t animated enough turtles yet! Time and time again, we’ve seen students who were totally dismissive of their own ability learn how to solve tough problems, and create some beautiful projects. We help them learn, but ultimately, students make the connections themselves.
If you’re curious about what we do, come check us out every Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m., in Mr. Campbell’s room in the Phelps Science Center! If you’d like us to add you to the email list, hit us up at agoyal@exeter.edu and etang@exeter.edu.
No experience is needed to tutor: As we like to say, we’re often helping the kids by learning alongside them. And plus, remember what we just said about helping the kids believe in their own ability to learn? That goes for tutors, too. Remember, if you think you’re not a “numbers person,” or that you just don’t get coding, give it another shot—all it takes is typing, time and lots of turtles!