STORY-TELLING WITH HEDY

Have your pupils already mastered a visual programming language, but don’t feel ready to delve deeper into a text-based programming language? Then this learning bit is just for you and your pupils because it will help them bridge the gap between a visual and a text-based programming language. The learning bit Story-telling with Hedy comprises three lesson plans that use Hedy – a gradual programming language to teach children programming.

Hedy is aimed at children who want to get started with textual programming languages, but for whom starting with Python might still be too complex. Gradual languages use different language levels, where each level adds new concepts and syntactic complexity. At the end of the Hedy level sequence, pupils master a subset of syntactically valid Python.

In this Learning Bit you will find inspiring and engaging activities to help your students to efficiently use text-based programming languages. By creating their own interactive stories, they will gradually learn programming, without having to learn everything at once. In the lesson plan for primary school, pupils are introduced to the basic concepts of programming. The lesson plan for lower secondary school introduces further programming concepts, whereas the lesson plan for upper secondary enables pupils to program more complex stories and activities.

Check out the interactive story below to see how readers can participate in the story and how it fosters their active engagement.

Ready to share what you learnt with your students?

Choose one of the lesson plans below and organize an activity with your students.

1. Make your own interactive story with Hedy for primary school pupils
2. Make your own interactive story with Hedy for lower secondary pupils
3. Make your own interactive story with Hedy for upper school pupils

Do not forget to add your activity to the Code Week Map!

You can easily organize a lesson in your classroom, an open day, or an event at your school. Just find a date and register your activity in the Code Week map. Each activity organizer will get a certificate of participation for their effort.

If you would like to connect with an international group of enthusiastic teachers, join the EU Code Week Facebook group for teachers! To take a step further and collaborate with other schools in your country or across borders – join the Code Week 4 All challenge.