MURFREESBORO — The
need to expand Camp STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) at MTSU
and offer more hands-on opportunities for computer-savvy youth brought on the
first Coding Camp at MTSU June 15-19.
Youngsters from Murfreesboro and Franklin, Tennessee, are
attending the camp, which is being taught by Gayle Porterfield, who teachers
sixth-graders at Mitchell-Neilson Elementary School.
In computer programming, coding is the process of designing,
writing, testing, troubleshooting and maintaining the source code of programs.
Utilizing a number of fun programs, Porterfield — with
assistance from high schoolers who are proficient in computer programming — is
helping the youngsters grow in their knowledge of coding.
The students are learning to incorporate new concepts they
learn by building complex games, animations and interactive stories such as
Pacman and Pong.
The campers are being taught Scratch, HTML, CSS, jQuery and
more.
Scratch is a free programming language and online community
where participants can create their own interactive stories, games and
animations.
HTML, an acronym for HyperText Markup Language, is the
standard language to create Web pages.
Cascading style sheets, or CSS, is a language used for
describing the look and formatting of a document written in a markup language.
jQuery is a cross-platform JavaScript library designed to
simplify the scripting of HTML. The 8-year-old jQuery is considered the most
popular JavaScript library in use today.
The students also are taking part in a Google Hangout with
special invited guests for an interactive makers session.
David Lockett, who teaches fourth-graders at Homer Pittard
Campus School, is the Camp STEM director.
For
more information about the coding camp, the various STEM camps or the 2016
Summer Math Institute at MTSU, call Lockett at 615-415-7963, email him at David.Lockett@mtsu.edu or visit www.campSTEM.us.
No comments:
Post a Comment