The eighth grade STEM class got their first taste of coding when they began a unit on how to use processing language. Processing is built on the computer language Java, and its goal is to allow students to begin programming with immediate visual feedback.

The unit started with the girls building a rectangle and border using their knowledge of coordinate geometry learned in their math class. The girls were able to change the size and color of the rectangle before moving on to triangles, lines, and ellipses. With these skills, students were able to program the computer to draw unique faces by varying the size and placement of their shapes.

With this skill mastered, the language introduces the concept of a loop, in which a process may be completed a number of times. They were also able to write code that allowed them to control movements of the shapes across the screen using the mouse. It was so thrilling and satisfying for them when they were successful, and they thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with computer art.

The real lessons they learned include that a computer understands only what is typed in the code, and how to “debug” their work when the program does not meet its goals. In all, students loved the unit and look forward to learning more coding in the future.

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