New Code Club Python Projects!

Over the summer we’ve been busily working away to improve and refresh Code Club’s Python curriculum!

One of the key developments is the use of Trinket, an online environment for writing Python code. We also use Trinket for our HTML & CSS projects, and we think it’s a great tool to use because…

• There’s no installation of software required – this is great for club leaders
• Children can code online, and so the environment is available both in and outside of their club.
• Children can save work anonymously, via a unique url.
• Children can share their projects with others.

We’ve also created more graphical projects, something that came up through our termly feedback surveys from clubs.

Project examples:

We have nine brand-new projects, two of which are sample projects that are available for anyone to have a go at.

The projects cover key skills such as sequencing, variables, selection, repetition, as well as lists, dictionaries, functions and files. The projects also focus on data, both using open data sets (in the ‘Where is the Space Station?’ project), as well as data that can be collected and analysed by the children themselves (such as in the ‘Popular Pets’ project).

The new projects include:

Turtle Race: In this project, children will first draw a race track, and then program 4 turtles to race each other! This project introduces repetition and random numbers. Take a look at the project via the video below:

Popular Pets: In this project, children will learn to create pie charts and bar graphs from data collect from members of their Code Club. They will learn how to chart data stored in text files.

Where is the Space Station?: Children will make use of NASA’s open International Space Station data to find out its position, and the time it next passes over their location. They will also learn how to plot this data onto a world map.

Have a go at the projects:

The new Python projects can be found here. We’d love to hear what you think about the projects, so do get in touch:

• Using the feedback form at the bottom of each project
• By emailing projects@codeclub.org.uk

Don’t worry if you’re in the middle of working through our ‘old’ projects – they can still be found in our archives, at https://codeclubprojects.org/en-GB/archived/#python.