Brownie Coding for Good Badges: Coding Basics

GSUSA has just released this year's new badges.  For Daisies, Brownies and Juniors, these badges included a new series:  Coding for Good.  Each level gets three badges, which, like the robotics and cybersecurity badges, were designed to be done sequentially.  Also it appears that like the robotics and cybersecurity badges, if you purchase the badge brochure, instead of getting a choice of three activities per requirement, you are given background information to use with the VTK plans.  In other words, your activities choices are to use what is in VTK or to come up with your own activities.


I copied and pasted the two meeting plans for Coding Basics into a word processor and they came to 13 pages and 8 pages.  Like other VTK plans, much of these involve "say this".  As I know this frustrates many people who are not good skimmers/summarizers, I've summarized Coding Basics below. I will say that GSUSA did give a good short description of the meeting activities at the beginning of the plan, as opposed to the very cryptic descriptions on the older plans.  

I advise anyone who decides to do the badge based on reading this post to go ahead and read the whole VTK plan, as the talking points are where the connections are made between the activities and coding.  The plans are designed for ninety minute meetings.

In general, I think the badge looks fun.  My only issue is that it basically teaches algorithmic thinking, which is also taught in Think Like a Programmer and in Programming Robots.  I just think GSUSA needs to expand their badge topics, not just make more of the same.

The plans summarized below are "unplugged" and do not use a computer. GSUSA has a  partnership with CodeSpark Academy and references some of their activities that can be used to meet the badge requirements.

While this post is a pretty complete summary of the VTK plans, you can read how I put them into practice for an event with Daisies and Brownies at this post.

Requirements for Coding Basics

According to GSUSA,  to earn the Coding Basics badge, Brownies create algorithms and use loops to make the steps of their algorithms repeat over and over again. They also learn that events cause things to happen before finding out about an important woman in computer science and creating their own set of commands.

Step One: Create algorithms for a computer that follow a sequence

Step Two: Use loops to improve your algorithm

Step Three: Use events to make things happen

Step Four: Learn about women in computer science

Step Five: Create your own set of commands that use events

Meeting Activities for Coding Basics

Share Dance Moves

As an arrival activity, GSUSA recommends having the girls pair up and show each other favorite dance moves, and then teach their partner to do their move, using clear concise directions. 

Honestly, I'd never do this as an opening activity.  My opening activities are done independently and get the girls seated and busy (socializing is ok, running around the room is not).  I am usually busy with parents, or setting things up; I don't want to repeat directions for each group, worry about who is paired with whom, who has a partner and who doesn't, or who is "done".  

Quilt Algorithms (Step 1)

Draw a 3x3 grid on chalkboard/whiteboard/paper.  Talk about how algorithms are sets of directions to a computer and that they have to be put in the right order.  Then talk about the grid as a quilt.  Tell the girls you want to design a pattern with two colors where no adjacent squares are the same color (checkerboard pattern).  Lead them through discovering and coloring in your grid.  Then write the pattern sequentially below the grid, such as blue white blue on one line, white, blue white on the second and blue, white , blue on the third.  

Next. have each girl color a grid with the pattern of her choice with up to three colors, and write the pattern for another girl to copy.  Girls trade codes and try to copy each other's patterns.  They compare their copy with the original and then, if they are not identical, try to "de-bug" the program and find out what went wrong.

This is one of those activities where the talking points are what moves it from being an art activity to a programming activity.

Looping Via Dance (Step 2)

Looping is a programming term that means repeating an action or sequence of actions. Looping is discussed in the context of a dance routine.  The leader shows an example of a written dance routine that includes looping.  Girls divide into pairs and design a dance routine that includes looping.  They write it down and then share with the group.

Event Game (Step 3) 

In programming, an "event" is something that causes something else to happen.  Talk about various events in life--remembering the programming definition.   Display a poster with a list of "events"--things you are going to do like clap your hands, or snap your fingers, and the response the girls are supposed to have.  For example, clapping could mean take a step forward, snapping your fingers, a step back.  In the Event Game, you will do the actions and they will perform the response, and the first one to the finish line wins.

If time permits, girls can come up with event-response pairs and re-play the game.

This is the end of the first meeting plan, and the second meeting plan begins with the girls playing this game again as they arrive.

Learn About Grace Hopper and De-Bugging (Step 4)

Grace Hopper was on a team that was trying to figure out why the computer wasn't working. They found a moth inside, which is the origin of the term "de-bugging".  The materials for this badge include cards about Ms. Hopper.  The girls need to "de-bug" the program, and put the cards in the right date order to learn about Hopper.  

Events by Remote Control (Step 5)

Review that events are things that cause responses.  Display a drawing of a remote control that has four or five buttons.  Tell the girls that pushing a button is an event.  Tell them which activity you want them the perform for each button.  Practice a few times.  Then divide the girls into pairs and let them "program" their own remote control.  Next, pairs join another pair and practice using their remotes.  

Conclusion

Unless you have girls who are all extremely interested in coding, I would do this badge, or Think Like a Programmer, I would not do both.  I think offering a combination of plugged and unplugged activities would make a good service unit or council activity, but I can see why the meeting plan focuses on unplugged activities. Still, if the point of programming is to make a computer do something, then I think you really should do some computer activities.