Coded Game

My coding activity on studio.code.org explored the interconnections between literacy and coding, two essential twenty-first-century skills. Coding teaches problem-solving, logical thinking, and creativity, while literacy equips students to express further ideas created through mediums such as coding (Dindelegan, 2018, p.56). In a classroom setting, cross-disciplinary learning aligning through coding and literacy develops multifaceted understandings and connections between different areas of knowledge. Moreover, it allows one to express creativity in ways that coding or poetry alone cannot. This is seen on the platform through the various tools (size, audio, sprite, and text effects) that can manipulate code presentation. Having control over one's work empowers students to create digital content to understand the technology that shapes their world. From a teaching perspective, this helps educators assess student learning and reevaluate teaching pedagogies if needed. 
Two prominent themes discussed above are student empowerment and creativity through coding and literacy. The game found on studio.code.org aligns with Seymour Papert’s constructivist theory by discussing the importance of learning through creativity  (Kafai & Burke, 2014, p.2).  Kafai and Burke (2014) quote Papert when explaining how learners construct knowledge effectively when actively creating meaningful work (Kafai & Burke, 2014, p.2). Coding and poetry involve blending logic with expression from literature, allowing students to build their understanding of programming concepts personally. By creating poetry, students are not just passive recipients of information; they become active in their learning, embodying Papert’s idea of knowledge being constructed through experience. 
In my work, I channeled Papert’s ideas by creating a poem personal to my biggest passion: swimming. I used waves as a way to create a beautiful piece of work. Sometimes, my code failed, but since I was determined to make a visually aesthetic poem resembling my passion, I was determined to build upon my learning and learn from my coding mistakes. The platform was intuitive, allowing me to learn from my mistakes, which equated to Papert’s claims of making meaningful learning through designing personal programs. I did not have access to coding or diverse ways of expressing my emotions, as seen through this activity. I wish this had been around when I was in middle school because I believe this would have enhanced my learning and overall engagement. 

Works Cited
Dindelegan, M. (2018). Digital and coding literacy for school students. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Digitalia, 63(1), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbdigitalia.2018.1.04 

Kafai, Y. B., & Burke, Q. (2014). Mindstorms 2: Children, programming, and computational participation. https://ctl7016.weebly.com/schedule.html