Newsletter Project 20181130

Details: Last Updated: Friday, 30 November 2018 23:03

Odyssey Middle School

Academics

Programming

Hey Parents, it is Mr. Young with an update about our programming class. I first want to thank you all for supporting your children. We are grateful for the opportunity to share what we love whether it is sports, teamwork, science or friendship. As a refresher, the City of Orlando runs the city wide After School AllStars program which provides before and after school activities for Odyssey Middle School (ODMS). After our hit Summer Science Program we requested materials for a 2018-2019 Science Olympiad team, Programming, 3D printing, and Robotics courses. It felt like Christmas in August in that we were granted materials for all those program.

Modeled after Code.org's "Animation and Gaming" curriculum, our goal is for students to create their own game. We are using the Scratch Integrated Design Environment (IDE). Scratch was developed at MIT to teach fundamental programming concepts and is free for anyone to use. This means the fun never has to end! Students are encouraged to continue with their creativity at home.

We are so far 3 sessions into our Robotics programming course that will culminate in two of our students competing with our Science Olympiad team against all other programming teams in the region!

Session 1

01Programming for Entertainment

02Plotting Shapes

03Drawing in Game Lab

04Shapes and Randomization

Session 2

05Variables

06Sprites

07The Draw Loop

08Counter Pattern Unplugged

Session 3

09Sprite Movement

10Booleans Unplugged

11Booleans and Conditionals

12Conditionals and User Input

Session 4

13Other Forms of Input

14Project - Interactive Card

Session 5

15Velocity

16Collision Detection

17Complex Sprite Movement

18Collisions

Session 6

19Functions

20The Game Design Process

21Using the Game Design Process

Session 7

22Project - Design a Game.

In our first session we went over the, "Black Box", theory of programming and computing. We actually got the chance to take apart a computer and identify the component pieces.

In session two we introduced variables with how to create, name and reference them. We also introduced Sprites which are a grouping of variables. Sprites in Scratch usually have associated sounds, animations and other attributes (color, direction, name, etc) that we can change and use with our variables.

In session three we manipulated our sprite's variables to simulate movement and animation (walk, run and jump). Addy made a custom costume for one of her sprites. Ajay had one of his sprites disappear after slam-dunking a basket.

Session 4 will combine everything we did before and create actions based on our sprite's hidden boolean attributes.

Session 5 will use conditional events such as collisions and hidden attributes changes to start other animations. We will also start using external input so that a gamer can interact with their sprite.

Session 6 simulates velocity and advanced collisions.

Our big field trip will be on

January 19th, 2019

Regional Science Olympiad Competition

at Ocoee High School.

Two of our students will be competing in the, "Game On", event where they will be given 50 minutes to create a game based on a science related prompt (revealed at competition). We are still looking for parent chaperones. Please email myself or Ms Hope if you want to support our team the day of the event.

Mark your Calendars!

When	What	Details
February 6th, 2019		We show off our finished games to the world! We'll have everybody vote on the games to pick their 3 favorites. The top 3 game developers will decide the theme for our end of unit party.
February 13th, 2019		End of class party!
March 3rd, 2019		Building (ha ha...see what I did there?!?) off of our programming skills we now turn our talents to external input and output. Dates stay the same - Wednesday during Academics. Sign up in advance!