TAMPA — Students at Hillsborough Academy of Math and Science are literally jumping into coding. Educators are trying to teach students that coding may be done sitting in front of a computer but the results can be action-packed.
“It is a coding program where students actually use physical activity and coding and they combine it to do a lot of different activities,” said Critical Thinking Teacher Yvonne Kirkland. “Anything from physical education to math, to literacy, and really just have a lot of fun.”
One of the devices they rely on is called Unruly Splats. It’s the latest technology combining learning to code with physical activity.
"They don’t even understand that they are learning when they are having fun, and the more they get involved with it, they understand it is a career as they go up in grade level,” said principal Brittany Deen.
These eighth graders were given the opportunity to design and code their own games, which would then be passed down to younger students in the same school for them to play.
“It makes me very proud and happy as a teacher,” said Kirkland. “It’s almost like playing Legos, they get to put pieces together and if it doesn’t work, they can take apart and restart it and see where their error is without their teacher having to do it for them, so it’s a hands-on learning project.”
Students say the biggest surprise was how quickly they were able to pick up this newfound skill.
“It clicks to me. It’s simple,” said student Kaleb Crump.
“It’s about your imagination and how you want to use it,” said another student.
“It’s fun, it’s a good job, it's useful everywhere,” said a third student.
The students were even invited by Unruly Splats to compete in a national coding competition. It’s the future of STEM, but at Hillsborough Academy of Math and Science, they call it STEAM.
“Now STEM is just science, technology, engineering and math, but we add the A to STEAM to make it the arts as well, so it’s infused in all areas,” said Deen.
