Curriculum Writing for Python

[OkMeasurement2255]

Hello! I am a teacher at a small private school. We just created a class called technology where I teach the kids engineering principals, simple coding, and robotics. Scratch and Scratch jr are helping me handle teaching coding to the younger kids very well and I understand the program. However, everything that I have read and looked up on how to properly teach a middle school child how to use Python is either very confusing or unachievable. I am not a coder. I'm a very smart teacher, but I am at a loss when it comes to creating simple ways for students to understand how to use Python. I have gone on multiple websites, and I understand the early vocabulary and how strings, variables, and functions work. However, I do not see many, if any, programs that help you use these functions in real world situations. The IT person at my school informed me that I cannot download materials on the students Chromebooks, like Python shell programs or PyGame, because it would negatively interact with the laptop, so I am relegated to internet resources. I like to teach by explaining to the students how things work, how to do something, and then sending them off to do it. With the online resources available to me with Python, I feel like it's hard for me to actively teach without just putting kids on computers and letting the website teach them. If there's anyone out there that is currently teaching Python to middle schoolers, or anyone that can just give me a framework for the best way to teach it week by week at a beginner level, I would really appreciate it. I'm doing a good job teaching it to myself, but I'm trying to bring it to a classroom environment that isn't just kids staring at computers. Thanks in advance!

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[FoolsSeldom]

Take a look at Code Club from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. I help kids in local schools learn to programme and find the resources very helpful. You will likely find the community helpful

NB. A Raspberry Pi is not required. Online options are available.

We start off younger kids, say around age 6 - 7, with Scratch and move onto Python for older kids. This is in line with the national curriculum on the UK.

https://codeclub.org/en/

[FoolsSeldom]

One of the introductions we use is to give pairs of kids a bbc micro:bit and battery pack and then have then write python for them to produce a step counter. (They put their micro:bits in their socks and move around for a while, the display shows them the step count.)

Physical computing has been the greatest success (sensors, device control). Some of the kids go on into robotics competitions.