Meet Dash and Dot, pictured above! These robots are the mascots—and teaching tools—of St. James Codes, which takes place on the first Sunday of each month. At our May class we showed the students how to sign into the Dash curriculum so that we can monitor their progress. Students of all ages are able to progress systematically through the curriculum at their own rate either with a physical or a virtual robot. If you wish to participate, please download the Blockly app; the class code is 651N0. We will have a few Dash robots for your use, but if you wish to purchase your own, they are available through Amazon or directly through Wonder Workshop. Bring your smartphones, iPads, or laptops for the class.
Barbara Stachelski, the teacher for the class, is a national board-certified educator specializing in students with special needs. She recently retired from Tustin Unified School District after 21 years. Barbara taught coding and robots within her classroom for over 10 years and ran the St. James’ Girls Who Code club for over a year. She was also involved in the idata project out of the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin with a small group of students here at St. James teaching them coding to help people with visual impairments become involved in astronomy.
Barbara is joined by Steve Prat, another tech wizard, for this innovative program.
For more information contact the church office at office@stjamesnewport.org or 949.675.0210.
