From 29th of July through the 2nd of August I took a computer class at the University of Washington.
In this class there were 14 girls in the age of 13 to 19 years old. We learned about how computers think. There was one group leader, Mike, and also seven teaching assistants who could help us, if we had a problem.
I spent three hours a day in this class. In the middle of the three hours we made a little break. During the break we were able to take a snack if we wanted. We could either take a small bag with crispy gold fish or a bag with fruit gummies. Today we were allowed to take both of them :)
We played an educational computer game called "Gidget". In this game you have to clearly tell the computer what you want from it = programming. We had to play in groups and our group was called "green-yellow" which are mine and Shira's favorite colors.
We had to write our own code solution and figure out which one of the possible right one's. All levels were different. For all levels, the playing field is a grid. Sometimes it is larger than in the other, and some times smaller. In the first level, for example, you have to make "Gidget" go to a puppy. The grid is 3x3 squares. The Gidget starts in the middle ([1,1]), the puppy stands on an underlying ([2,1]). Next to the grid there is a display where we could enter our code. It started with an example written "left" but we had to go "down". You can replace the word "left" by "down 1". The Gidget will go "down 1" because I wrote the word into the display, where the code will be standing.
Some levels were more difficult, but once you understand the commands, then they become easy. In this game you learn playfully how computers think. If you have played all the levels, you can also design your own levels with your own objects, sounds and backgrounds but it is much more difficult for program a level than playing them all together.
It was a really great week, because I now understand a bit more than before. :)
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