life+=rand()*experiments?
What do you think about programming? Is it lines of code that’s machine-like and mundane? Or something creative?
The Eagles were diving deeper into algorithms. They challenged each other to create different pieces of code. We saw Elementary School (ES) Eagles stepping up by testing with new experiments algorithms among themselves and the studio. Read on to find out more.
- Loads & loads of Surprises this Week
- Programming Quest
Loads & loads of Surprises this Week
This week, we had plenty of surprises of learning, coming from Eagles, Guides and the external network!
Let’s start with the ES Eagles. There was a spirit of experiment towards independence this week.
Notebook for Self Reminders
“Oh, I didn’t pack my swimming gear.”
Forgetfulness among the young Eagles. Sometimes, it’s ouch—especially when the consequence is no swimming. Early in the week, they decided to take charge of it. They got notebooks for self reminders!
Momentum Dash
Eagles have the freedom to explore new apps. One Eagle found Momentum Dash and installed it on her Chrome browser. The beautiful pictures and simplicity of committing to one task each time are both productive and inspiring. This tool spread to all the Eagles across the studio.
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It is not surprising that momentum dash is used by some of the Silicon Valley veterans. Matt Mullenweg, the founder & CEO of WordPress (which powers more than 30% of the entire Internet) recommends it. What’s surprising for us—ActonKL’s usage was discovered by a curious 7-year-old girl.
Studio Improvements
“Where are the marker pens?”
Scarcity prompted an action. The solution: a new paper-made placeholder. All the stationeries in the right place!
Taking charge on Circle Time
The ES Eagles decided to take charge of Circle Times and Huddle. It was heartening to see them leading discussions on setting focus for each day, Townhall, and also reflections of their learning.
New Codes: Freedom Levels & Stars
The ES Eagles decided to explore stars and Freedom Levels and other ways to keep each other accountable. Star awards are an Eagle-created idea, inspired by the various tokens from their online programs; the Freedom Levels is a “community system” from Austin.
The stars are used to award particular acts each day.
The Freedom Levels are a system of earned freedom within the studio. The more responsibility, workload and intentionality one can demonstrate, the more freedom earned. Instead of taking a version from their guide, Ms. Caryn, the Eagles decided to create a version themselves.
The Eagles deliberately experimented these systems, and the studios were becoming more intentional. Next week, they will try Ms. Caryn version, and make a vote from the reflected experience.
Now, to the Middle School (MS) Eagles.
New Running Record. Unbelievable timings.
The MS Eagles had been running the 2.5km route to Kiara hills for two months now. The first time they did it, it was 19 minutes for the first runner, and 23.5 minutes for the last runner. The last run was 17 and 22 minutes.
They’ve been getting stronger, steadily.
On Tuesday, they created a new record. The first runner was under 16 minutes, and the last—17.5 minutes. Yes, the last runners improved their time by a whopping 6 minutes. It also meant that they qualified for the McDonald’s deal.
I asked the Eagles: “What really happened?”
“It was a cooling weather.”
“I kept pushing myself, despite a stitch.”
“I made sure we all run together.”
Wow. It still makes no sense for this amount of improvement.
Tracking Games Review
Last week, the Retro Games Review was published. Eagles could keep track of the number of hits each site is getting. They were getting the KPI of typical online websites and projects—real-time visitor stats.
Call to Charlie
On Thursday, the Eagles had a call with Charlie. Charlie is one of the founding Acton Academy Austin Eagles. He wanted to gather more feedback on The Children’s Business Fair.
So, we took this opportunity to connect!
“What are we going to say?”
The Eagles were both excited and nervous. Many have heard about Charlie and the founding story of Acton Academy. The Eagles shared their excitement and also discussed how to grow their Business Fair next year.
We are blessed that ActonKL is part of a much bigger network that stretches around the globe.
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Game a Guide – Week 1
With Dr. Ewe away, I (Mr. Jia) was the replacement guide. I was inspired by the younger Eagles who had been programming themselves. So, I decided to become the “programmable” guide.
So, here’s the challenge: Each morning, there is a form that Eagles need to fill in a certain combination of attributes. Then, they gave feedback.
Good games have level-up features. On Wednesday, a new feature released: create your own attribute. It added more challenge and fun to both Guides and Eagles.
So, what attributes did the Eagle came up with? “Cringy” on Wednesday, “Childish” on Thursday, and “Indian” on Friday. Uh-oh. It reflected the Eagles’ character of fun and putting up a challenge. It made the week went quickly with surprises.
Well, not every moment of the week was filled with surprises. The Eagles still had many of their usual works: setting goals, core skills, and the must-dos—swimming and playing around 🙂
Programming Quest
The Eagles continued to push themselves in the Programming Quest. All the ES Eagles have completed the Pre-Express course and almost all progress through the Express Course. Code.org’s recommended age for the Express course is 9–18 years old, and our ES Eagles are only 6–10 years old. A few weeks ago, we thought all this might be too challenging. But Acton Academy’s philosophy is trusting the Eagles to progress at their own pace. The surprising result is that half of them were half-way through, pacing themselves close to the MS Eagles. Go Eagles!
As we enter the middle of the Sprint, the unplugged activities became more challenging. The Eagles went through “What is the Internet”, “Binary Code”, and a more advanced round of “Paper Cup Stacking” and “Marble Run”.
What is the Internet
“What is the Internet” proved to be a stretch for the organizing MS Eagle. The concept of how data convert into packets and sent all over through a distributed network is hard to imagine and even harder to simulate with meaning. Note: we try our best not to teach via lectures. Instead, learning is done through Socratic Guiding and Experiential Learning. Then, there is also “classroom management”.
These challenges were reflected after. It’s through these experiences that our older Eagles grow. A traditional teacher or school administrator might consider this a risky attempt at teaching. But we call this a certain attempt at having the courage to grow.
Binary Code
The Binary Code unplugged activity proved to be fun! The ES Eagles learned how computers actually communicate at the most basic level. They enjoyed deciphering secret messages, so much so that they created a code for their parents later.
“I don’t want to be a computer their alphabets are so complicated! They think so fast!”
Paper Cup Stacking & Marble Run
The Eagles were given more complicated challenges of paper cup stack and marble run. It was both fun and challenging at the same time.
Finding Inspiration through Retro Games
The MS Eagles already started planning and creating their games. Soon, the ES Eagles will be doing the same. Similar to the MS Eagles last week, they were getting inspiration and ideas from playing retro games!
Games are addictive. So, Ms. Caryn made it reward-based. Eagles unlocked games once they finish writing required journal entries. After each round of play, they reflected what is the game really about, and how to play it. This got them thinking and writing about their future game.
Friday Fun
The qualifying standards for Friday Fun got higher this week. Less than half of the Eagles qualified. The ES Eagles had printed tattoo, followed by multi-player games with the MS. This week’s game was slither.io. It wasn’t fun enough though, so these Eagles chose other games after 10-minutes of slithering. Oh well, I admit it. It’s hard to keep up with the Eagles, especially with games.
This digital gap will get even harder because the Eagles will be creating their future their own games. Programming is a creative expression in its own right.
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