When we started this blog in early 2014 we had a simple goal: to share stories, ideas, and interviews that anyone teaching or learning code would find useful. Here are the top 10 posts we wrote this year.
1 – Why Python is a Great First Language
This post has become so popular we just refer to it as “Why Python” on the team. It’s been a great conversation starter with potential users and supporters in the CS Education community time after time. Check out how easy it is to print “Hello, world!”:
2 – Why Teachers Won’t Be Replaced By Software
It may seem strange at first that a tech company would write a post about how tech isn’t enough in the classroom. But it’s core to what we believe at Trinket: that authentic connections between people are the true foundation of learning. That’s why Trinkets are designed to be used by teachers in class, rather than supplant them.
3 – Beginning Coders Need Visual Examples
The standard bottom-up approach to teaching code starts with numbers and text because those are the basic data types. But research has shown that visual introductions to programming are much more effective. In this post we discuss the classic Peanut Butter and Jelly approach to algorithms and show how Trinkets can be used to visually describe for loops.
4 – Embeddable Python Charts
This post introduced the beautiful, simple Pygal library, which can make charts in just a few lines of code.
5 – How to Teach Programming with Google Sites
This posts details how Trinket transforms a basic Google Site into an interactive teaching tool.
6 – Writing Poetry in Python
I love the humanities and in this post show how Python can be used as a composition tool for poetry, inspired by the work of Nick Montfort.
7 – How to host a teacher coding event
What we’ve learned holding this kind of event and tips for when you host your own.
8 – How an Art History Major teaches programming, Parts 1, 2 and 3
How my humanities background has influenced my approach to teaching code.
9 – We should teach code like we teach language
Why I believe that coding education and language education are similar, cognitively and pedagogically.
10 – In search of a Middle Path for Edtech
I believe the techniques of high-growth startups can be successfully combined with great pedagogy. Far from being opposed, I believe these can be combined to form a ‘Middle Path’ for education technology companies, one we try to find every day at Trinket.
Thanks for helping make these our most popular posts of 2014! We hope to have more great content on our blog in the coming year. Suggestions? Want to pitch a guest post? Get in touch.