Who would win a food fight between an octopus and a cupcake?

Using coding and gaming in the App hopscotch to engage learners with numeracy, coding, thinking and reflection skills. 

Ever wondered what to do with those students who really are quite good at numeracy? What about a bit of an extension project centered around coding for numeracy understanding and growth! I had the pleasure of working with an exceptional colleague, Megan Skinner, who had such a passion for and skill in making numeracy make sense for learners that I could not help but catch her enthusiasm!

Starting with the free App Hopscotch I began exploring how coding actually reflected a lot of numeracy skilled and mapped some of the tasks to the AusVELs curriculum. Hopscotch scaffolds learners by showing them videos as they work of what they are doing and providing gradually increasing in complexity levels for students to work through. Thus the Who would win a food fight between an octopus and a cupcake task? was born. Check out the specifics below, grab the student task sheet (shown on the left) or explore the lesson plan (below)- complete with AusVEL's mapped for you! 

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Task Overview                     
Using inbuilt videos the App Hopscotch guides learners through creating simple through to complex coded games that target number time and angle numeracy skills in a highly engaging platform. Linked to this are opportunities for students to set SMART goals based on success criteria and to blog and share their progress.

Success Criteria

• Completion of training levels and reflection about how to use the App Hopscotch for coding
  
• Creation of a food fight game for two players using Hopscotch that allows 2 players to throw food at each other
  
• Self directed and self paced learning is shown and reflected in your own goal setting
  

Targeted Learners

• Year 4 Students who are above the 12 months Numeracy AusVEL’s level 
  
• Year 5 Students who are above the 6 months Numeracy AusVEL’s level
  
• Students who enjoy coding and capable with basic Year 4 Maths vocabulary 
  
• Students who are becoming or are already independent learners (this would also work with learning support staff facilitating it)