Sydney's Trail
Sydney's Trail is a Term Project for a CMU course, 112. The term project was completed over one week, took about 72 hours and was created in Python using the GUI framework Tkinter. Using the character of Sydney, from Digital Dream Labs' Cork the Volcano, I created a coding platform for students designed with inspiration from the code.org artist loop. This platform goes beyond the Artist loop design, by using buttons that create text rather than blocks that fit together and teaches students how to read basic errors given to the syntax of their code.
CMU's 112- Fundamentals of Programming and Computer Science course was taught in Python and is intended to be an immersive introduction to programming. Ranked top 5 best computer science classes in the country, I'm walking away from this class with new found knowledge and a deeper understanding of what it truly means to create, not just consume technology.
Sydney's Trail
Design Rationale
Implementing Coding into ELA Curriculum:
The positive impact it makes on students' logic and sequence skills.
For my Masters Thesis, I implemented Coding into an Elementary Education Classroom (specifically 3rd grade) in an effort to study the effect it would have on their logic and sequence skills in reading/writing classroom.
The data collected from this project shows that an implementation of coding into the reading and writing curriculum one period per week, in conjunction with a third grade’s current reading and writing curriculum, enabled students to answer sequence of events, sentence structure and conditional statement questions with 10% greater accuracy that the class of students who did not participate in this learning initiative. Students exposed to this method of learning saw an increase in performance 1.6x better than the students whose classroom curriculum was not adapted.
Woman + Code.
One of my greatest passions is showing young women that coding is a possible career path for them. Not only that it is something that they can do but more importantly that it is something that they would want to do. I have both spoken as a panelist for a local film screening on this topic and provided opportunities for my female students to explore the world of coding. It is my goal to show girls that if they imagine it, they can create it and that coding can be the tool that gives them the power to acomplish their dreams.
Digital Dream Labs
Curriculum Writing
Managed the design team's understanding of the educator's needs and provide first-hand knowledge of application and standards. Creates curriculum and support materials for games create and the Puzzlet platform that aligns to educational standards.
Grant Writing
Worked closely with co-founders to apply for various grants that will support their educational mission. We were awarded an NSF grant spring 2016.
