In celebration of Computer Science Education Week from December 3-9, we’re inviting teachers and parents to discover PBS KIDS resources that introduce little ones to coding, storytelling, and creative problem-solving. With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, kids can create their own interactive stories and games featuring their favorite PBS KIDS characters. The storytelling possibilities are endless with this creative coding app for children ages 5-8. Check out the PBS KIDS ScratchJr collection on PBS LearningMedia and splash page on PBS KIDS. You’ll find resources and activities designed for educators to support the use of the app in both formal and informal learning settings.
Alexa Cafe and Code Like a Girl teach girls the basics of game design and encourage interest in technology so they can create games and help to diversify the heavily male-dominated gaming industry. Even though many girls love playing video and computer games, the subject matter and design of popular games almost always aim for the interests of a male audience. Part of that lies in who makes the games. Women made up only 11 percent of computer game designers in 2013, and just three percent of programmers. “We’re trying to create that environment to say, hey, you could be the world’s best coder,” said Code Like a Girl instructor Claudia Ortiz.
Those ones and zeros might not look like anything to you, but in binary code the numbers are actually saying “Hello!” Science Friday’s Ariel Zych shares how you can write your own name using binary code. Any code that uses just two symbols to represent information is considered binary code. Different versions of binary code have been around for centuries, and have been used in a variety of contexts. For example, Braille uses raised and unraised bumps to convey information to the blind, Morse code uses long and short signals to transmit information, and the example above uses sets of 0s and 1s to represent letters. Perhaps the most common use for binary nowadays is in computers: binary code is the way that most computers and computerized devices ultimately send, receive, and store information.