Learning Coding 2 - Abdul Majid Syed's Story

 I started my coding journey somewhere in May during the lockdown. I was bored and had seen that our correspondent, Aneesa Jamal Aunty, had posted a course on coding, and I decided to try it out.  

It was in a website called CodeHS, which teaches programming through a dog called Karel. I had enrolled for the Intro to Programming with Karel the Dog, the first and basic course. So, basically, if you give inputs like turn right, take ball,  executes those commands. I continued this for about a month and a half to two.

 By then I had got a basic idea of how coding works, and I decided to take matters into my hand, because the exercise were boring, and I wanted to do something else. So I headed to the CodeHS Sandbox, where you can edit a myname.codehs.me website. I headed to the docs section, and soon got an idea of how to make a website. I had made a simple one, but then through a reference through the same website, I learnt of another website called W3Schools, where they teach you in detail about almost all the coding languages. It was here that I learnt to make my website more styled with CSS and more dynamic with Bootstrap, which is a framework, and acts as a library for CSS. You can check out the website I made here. 

I then learnt JavaScript, a high-level, client-sided, front end programming language, used for everything from making dynamic websites, to making apps. I then added a few bits of it to my websites, and made a calculator using it, called Caliclux The Calculator. After progressing more in the course, I made a more complicated and accurate calculator called Caliclux The Calculator Pro, which was a build up on Caliclux The Calculator.

I also made a simple To-Do list program, again using JavaScript as the language. After that I went on to learn about JQuery, which is used as a JavaScript library, and also a language that simplifies JavaScript. It is similar to JavaScript, so it wasn’t very hard to learn. Using that I designed a Chatting Program which you can check out here, which uses something called a ‘bugout’ address which is a random string of numbers and letters which is assigned to every browser which opens it. So you can open it twice in your device, and it will show as two different addresses. 

I then went through the Python docs in CodeHS, and armed with the basics, proceed to create a simple Python program which you can find here. Python is a high-level server-side programming language, which can also be deployed as client sided, which is what my program is. 

As I wasn’t very interested in Python, I decided to learn SQL on W3Schools. SQL or Structured Query Language, which is the language used to create, store and access databases. I made a sample database with SQL here.

I then went on to learn PHP or Hypertext Preprocessor, a back end server-sided language, which is used in a wide range of places such as Login systems. I had made a few programs, but unfortunately, due to lack of resources, couldn’t publish it. 

I then learnt about API’s or Application programming interface’s, which defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries. So basically it is a translator from different programs and softwares. Using the getUserMedia Api, I made a photo capturing program here. I also used the Speech Recognition API, which searches Google with your voice, but which I didn’t publish publicly.

I was then working on some simple projects like an alarm clock, a basic unit converter, and a redirecter, which redirects you to a link at the time you set.

I continue to work on a few more projects. 

And until they’re out Farewell!

 

Teaching Visual Critical Thinking VI - The Escape?

It was my second ‘What’s going on in this picture’ class with the 7th grade on Critical Visual Thinking.   We are all constantly observing in our daily lives by using our senses but when observation leads to thinking, thinking leads to reflection.  It is only then that observation becomes key to critical thinking. We need to also infer from our observations. In this class, I used this picture for the children to observe what they thought was going on in the picture and what did they see that made them infer it and what more did they observe.

Another reason for the wgoitp activity is to give children the opportunity to collaborate to learn and grow from each other and understanding of diverse perspectives.  It enhances their confidence and self-esteem. Communication stimulates thinking, without which learning is stifled.

Cessie started the discussion, clearly expressing that the man and woman in the picture looked like migrant Indians.  The man carried the baby wading through stagnant, possibly, drainage water  across dry, paddy field.  She observed a lot of garbage and plastic strewn all around and with the murky water and concluded it could be India.

Ruqayya mentioned that they looked like evacuees leaving the place with essentials as the bags looked light.  She inferred it was cold out there as the man and woman were in jackets with the baby wrapped in a blanket.  They looked poor for the man was not wearing shoes.  Maybe something bad had happened to them.  The man’s grimace suggested he was angry, horrified or scared.  The lady at the back was wading through water also carried a bag with colourful plastic stuff in it.

Izzy observed the man carried the baby either to save life, or if not, camping or hiking with no shoes. His face had a determined look.  The woman at the back probably carried camp equipment.  There seemed to be lots of bushes around with stagnant water. The baby was covered for warmth. 

Sharban commented that these people looked as immigrants from another country.  The man was without shoes, minimum baggage and a baby which looked like it was falling off the man's arms.  The place was surrounded with reeds.  Although only the woman was wading through water, the man also would have done the same to reach the spot where he was but he did not look wet.  Most probably they were running away from something or somewhere.

Dr. Humorous made his observations.  He stated that that they were fugitives escaping from law or something dangerous along with their baby to a safer place.  He made that assertion because only such people travelled through muddy, swampy, deserted places with no transportation. He observed the man carried a baby with a small bag of belongings was without shoes.  He later noticed the woman, perhaps his wife, was carrying his shoes and another bag with what looked like colourful toys or possibly things for the baby.  The grass was dry and crispy, the climate looked damp and cold as they were wearing jackets and the baby was wrapped in a blanket.  The path they were travelling was already visited by people as there were plastic bags, old shoes, and cigarette butts around the place.

Afrah observed that they are probably refugees who carried a bag each of essentials traveling barefoot and the woman was carrying shoes in hand.  They seemed to travel across a wasteland or garbage dump wading through murky water.  It was obvious the weather was cold and damp and they had to wade through water which was dripping off the man’s pants although he carried the baby warmly wrapped in a blanket. 

Shahul concurred with the others that the climate was cold because of the jackets they wore.  Based on that he stated that were refugees on the border of Kashmir far away from the city. 

I later revealed the answer to them that they were Kosovar migrants illegally trying to cross the border into Hungary rightly captioned, ‘In search of a new life.’ 

This activity is interesting because when the children heard each other’s observations and opinions,  they were able to see the common thinking of each other.  When they differed, they were able to adapt to others’ opinion thereby developing another critical skill, of ‘flexibly thinking’.  They are able to articulate their ideas, make linkage between ideas and communicate effectively their inferences to their peers.  Is there a better way to instil these skills in them?  All in all, a good English class.

By Naqeeb Sultana

Note : Student chosen aliases have been used instead of real names. Due to copyright restrictions, the actual picture cannot be reproduced. Instead a student drawn illustration has been used and a link to the actual picture has been provided in the article as well as below:

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/whats-going-on-in-this-picture-march-2-2015/

Lockdown & Activity Based Science Teaching: Mission Impossible

Ever since the Covid-19 lockdown our school has been working in online mode. The entire experience is new for teachers and students.  I was particularly apprehensive about teaching science to my 5th graders in online mode. After all, we use the Small Science curriculum from Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.This is a completely activity based approach which calls for collaboration, experimentation, and discussion with story writing and poetry thrown in for good measure. How was I going to deliver the unique “Small Science” experience through Google Classroom? The mind boggled at the idea!

Flipping the Classroom

Nevertheless, what must be done, must be done. I decided to take the flipped classroom approach - whereby the children had to read a section and possibly do the experiment before coming to class. We had not been able to complete the 4th grade curriculum before lockdown, so we started up with the unit on Water. 

The first experiment was to take a ruler, put a drop of water on it and observe how the water flowed in different directions and speeds whilst tilting the ruler. Most children conducted the experiment before coming to class and enjoyed narrating their experiences. We discussed where all they have seen water flowing - in a drain, down the street during a downpour, in their bathrooms. 

As the class was conducted while Chennai was in intense lockdown, we had to skip a favourite activity whereby children cut open a tetra pack and make water wheels. I’ve a good mind to assign it later when it's safe for children to recover their textbooks and workbooks from school. 

Technology Challenge

One challenge we immediately faced was having to teach children how to do online schooling - logging into Google Classroom, activating Google Meet, using pdf editors to write in the soft copies of the Workbook, and how to stay safe and healthy online.. It seemed an insurmountable challenge - these kids were quite unfamiliar with technology in part due to Al Qamar’s strict “No Screen” policy. The internet speeds were poor. Some kids were using mobile phones to attend online classes.  We held training sessions for the children in all areas but hiccups and disruptions occurred for quite some time thereafter. 

Floating & Sinking

We moved onto the floating or sinking activity. I put together a jar of water and several items which we would test. We started off by predicting if an item would sink or float. They quite enjoyed seeing if their guesses were correct.  I asked them to repeat the same activity at home using different items. 

Mixing

We tried mixing different liquids in water - they love the oil and water experiment, never tire of seeing it. 

The next class was devoted to me demonstrating how salt and sugar mix in water, but rava does not. I made do with rava, asstaying in an apartment, during lockdown, I couldn’t even get mud or sand. The children learned the terms - solution, turbid, mixture. They had to repeat the experiment at home, dry out their solutions and note what happens. 

Active Homework

The homework activity was great as it led to two children exploring further. 

One child made one sugar solution and another with jaggery. She found that once the two solutions had dried up, red ants were coming to the sugar solution and black ants to the jaggery solution. Turned out she had put the bowls in two different rooms. This was a great opportunity to teach them about keeping all variables the same except the one being measured. I asked her to repeat the experiment but this time keep the bowls in the same room.  I don’t quite think followed up but the discussion activity was enjoyed by all.

Another child evaporated a salt solution in a jar. She got the most fantastic crystals forming even as the solution was still in the process of drying up. 

This picture taken after a few days shows the size of the crystals. The student noted that the largest crystal was 1cm long. I’m sure this experiment was quite fascinating for her.

Watching Water Climb

We then moved onto exploring whether water can climb. I asked the children to keep a jar of water, a string and a cotton cloth handy. During class, I asked them to read the experiment, understand what they had to do and conduct the experiment. The children put the string and cloth partially into the jar and let the rest hang outside the rim.  There were squeals of delight as they discovered that the string soon got wet and the cotton cloth followed. 

I then demonstrated an experiment they love. I placed 4 jars of differently coloured water, and stuck tightly rolled tissue from one to the other.  The children thoroughly enjoyed seeing how the coloured water climbed up one side of the jar and took the paint into the other jar. Another student redid the experiment and home and Whatsapped me the picture below.

  

We had to skip the water/ ink climbing the chalk experiment- no chalk available,- and moved onto the next experiment. Here we partially filled a jar with 2-3 cm water and added a lot of rava to it. The video call wasn’t all that clear but children did see how the water rose up the rava slowly.

Evaporating & Recording

Next we moved onto evaporation.  This was another experiment which I asked the children to conduct at home and record the results daily.  Children had to keep two identical glasses the same amount of water - however one glass was open and another covered - and observe the results for 10 days.  One child astounded me with her meticulousness.  She not only measured the water level daily, but diligently took and shared photographs by email. I’m sure she found satisfaction in seeing how the water level in the open glass kept declining daily.  She finally compiled her results in a Google Doc with photographs. 

One child developed enough expertise with the pdf editor to fill in the graph tracking the water levels with different colours. Remember - these were children who were complete novices with technology at the start.  By now most children were typing comfortably in their workbooks.

The next few experiments were on condensation and real fun. I asked the children to keep a closed cold bottle of juice ready in the fridge for the class the next day. Additionally I asked them to keep two glasses, a towel and cold water.  During the class, the children brought out their cold bottles of juice. I asked them to feel the outside of the bottle and they reported that it was wet.  They had to wipe the bottle and touch it again after a few moments. They noticed that the bottle surface was wet again.  This led to an animated discussion about where the water had come from. Some were adamant that the water had come out from the bottle. I asked them to observe and taste the droplets outside - they reported the droplets were colourless, unlike the juice, and tasteless. However, they were still convinced the water had come from inside the bottle. “Possibly out over the top.” “Maybe there are nano holes in the plastic through which the drops came out.”. Finally a couple of them cottoned onto the real explanation “Aunty the air outside the bottle has water vapour, right? When the air touches the cold bottle, the water vapour becomes water!” I shared this explanation with the other children and they seemed to understand it. However, while checking their answers in the workbook, I realised they had not internalised the explanation - and still stuck to the “water from inside the bottle” theory.  I think children construct a world view based on their observations and conclusions, and even if erroneous, it is not easy to replace this mental model by simply talking, explaining or even doing the experiments and showing proof.

Condensing & Integrating

The final experiment was one where they had to integrate the evaporation-condensation cycle. This one was also conducted at home by each child. Children put a small jar with stones inside a larger container with shallow water, covered the bigger container with saran wrap and weighted the cover down with a stone. This setup was then put out in the sun.  The children noticed that water droplets had formed on the cover - and could relate that it was due to water evaporating and then condensing. They also opened the containers and felt the stones - some reported that the stones had got wet. This experiment really brings home the dual process of evaporation and condensation. 

I was quite surprised to see sketches of this experiment and expert typed answers in the Workbook.

The Workbook provides for interesting questions that challenge the children to apply their learnings in different contexts.  This naturally led to great discussions. One was focussed on listing the similarities and differences between water and water vapor, ice and water. I think children are now familiar with this exercise and handle it well. 

Storytelling

It also takes a multidisciplinary approach and asks kids to recount a time they played in water, compose sentences and even write a story. 

We could finally integrate all the learning into the story of the water cycle.  I’ll sign off leaving you to enjoy this adorable account about “Bubbles”. 

BLOWN AWAY - By Athiya Fathima

There was once a challenging, adventurous, naughty droplet called Bubbles. So - now, be quiet and listen to the strange story of Bubbles and the Water cycle. So, let’s start. 

Bubbles was a single droplet who lived with his mother. One day Bubbles was in the garden playing, when suddenly a strong wind blew, he heard Mama shouting ‘’Bubbles come in!!! Or you’ll get blown away!! Come in at once!!’’. (That’s called ‘Evaporation’. Sorry to interrupt, but take notes!). 

Bubbles was really curious and could be irritable at times. Bubbles wondered, “What does Mama mean ‘blown away’?? Will I be flying on a magic carpet? Aah wonderful.’’ he thought, and at once he drifted into dreams. After a few minutes, Bubbles realized he was drifting into the air, and heard Mama’s irritated warning voice. Why can’t his Mama leave him alone?? And again, he drifted into thoughts. Then Bubbles really felt like he was flying into the air, he looked down and gave a yell. Then suddenly he remembered why he was going to fly in the air. The reason was he was Evaporating (Actually he read it in a book called ‘’Water Cycle’’). “Yoo Hoo!!. Mama!! Mama!! I am really flying at last!!!”

Bubbles saw some massive white cotton candies (which were actually clouds). Slowly he landed into one of them. He then realized that he was condensing because of the cold and hot weather. He felt some sort of chill feeling  in between his legs. Suddenly he realized he was not at all alone, he felt like he was in one of Chennai’s bus stands (He had seen one once when he visited Chennai). Bubbles saw that everyone was going to burst out of the cloud. It was a long time and he started to feel hungry. Bubbles was bored and saw that everyone in the next cloud was slowly falling down. Slowly he remembered -  he had read the reason for the falling drops in a book.  (Bubbles was even a reader).  In that book, the reason was called ‘’Precipitation’’. Bubbles bent a little forward to take a better look when he too was flying down the sky!!

‘’WHOO HOO WHOO HOO’’ Bubbles cried, and landed down with a big Thump!!. Oops!! My back!! Bubbles yelled and started walking like an old granny towards an Auto.  Now he was in great trouble he was lost!!. But thanks to the Autorickshaw Uncle who knew every location- and was an old neighbor of Bubbles,  Bubbles reached home. He got a big scolding from Mama. “Oops!!” Bubbles thought “I wish I  had never returned home!!!”   

    THE END.