Author: Amanda Sublett
Planning Unit: Marion County CES
Major Program: 4-H Science, Engineering, and Technology Core Curriculum
Plan of Work: Youth and Adults Overcome Life Situations by Acquiring Life Skills
Outcome: Initial Outcome
The 4-H National Youth Science Day Challenge, Game Changers, was taught to every 4th and 5th grader, approximately 600 kids, in the Taylor County, Campbellsville Independent School and Kentucky Christian School systems during October & November. Pitch Your Passion is an introductory coding activity that teaches kids how to use code to create an animated pitch about why people should care about one of their favorite topics. Students used code to animate something they were passionate about and added characters, sounds, movement and created an important message to create a Public Service Announcement. Game Changers integrates CS First, Google’s introductory computer science curriculum, with 4-H’s research-based youth development model, to show kids how they can use code both as a form of personal skill development and as a way to understand the world around them. As a result of participation in "Pitch Your Passion," youth became familiar with the Scratch block-based programming language, learned important computer science concepts, like events, sequencing, conditionals and loops, and created an animation project in Scratch. 95% of students created a character and coded an algorithm and learned several important skills, including pattern recognition, logic, problem solving and creativity through engagement in hands-on, experiential learning. Youth gained confidence in relaying their message to others that will help to grow true leaders in the future.
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