The need:
Several independent school districts throughout San Antonio recognized the need to implement STEM-related initiatives, specifically focusing on coding. To address this, the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) organized a project to provide training for teachers on platforms like Scratch.org and Code.org, enabling them to teach coding to their students. For this project, an instructional system that was hybrid and user-friendly for both students and teachers was required.
The Solution:
In collaboration with the Intercultural Development Research Association, I developed a coding course for 8th grade students using MIT’s Scratch platform for project VisionCoders. This course consists of 30+ interactive lessons that include 997+ original content. Additionally, I provided consultation on educational technologies which led to the adoption of Schoology’s learning management system as our main platform. A pilot version of my course was implemented in four schools with students showing remarkable achievements in video game coding. The course is currently on track to be implemented in 12 Bexar County middle schools for the years 2023-2025 and it is projected to be used by over 1,400 students as interest in the project continues to grow.
