{"id":77554,"date":"2019-01-22T17:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=430900"},"modified":"2019-01-22T17:00:33","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T17:00:33","slug":"with-code-jumper-experts-look-to-jumpstart-computer-science-interest-for-kids-who-are-blind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/01\/22\/with-code-jumper-experts-look-to-jumpstart-computer-science-interest-for-kids-who-are-blind\/","title":{"rendered":"With Code Jumper, experts look to jumpstart computer science interest for kids who are blind"},"content":{"rendered":"
None of this would come as a surprise to the students at New College Worcester. As they assembled their programs, some recalled computer science classrooms in which they had been told to do touch typing \u2013 which is a method of typing by muscle memory instead of looking at the keyboard \u2013 while the other kids in their classes used block coding to write basic computer programs. Others shared the frustrations of trying to learn more complex coding skills like Python or JavaScript without the grounding in more simplified coding systems many other students were getting to use.<\/p>\n
With Code Jumper, they said, they were immediately able to experiment and build programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt very independent, and I liked that,\u201d said Daniel, who at 11 years old already knows he wants to pursue a career in computer science. \u201cIt kind of made me inspired to do more coding.\u201d<\/p>\n
On this day, Daniel was collaborating with another student, Rico. The 12-year-old\u2019s favorite subjects are IT and science, and he said that in his previous school he only got to do touch typing. With Code Jumper, he was able to write an actual program for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo just do coding, it was a fun experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As the kids worked on their programs, Jonathan Fogg, head of computing and IT at New College Worcester, walked around the classroom, helping them with things like debugging. Fogg also watched with evident delight as they ran their programs for him. He said Project Torino was unlike anything he\u2019d been able to provide the kids before now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere really isn\u2019t an equivalent to this physical way of programming,\u201d Fogg said.<\/p>\n
The early access to basic coding skills is important, Fogg said, because many kids who are blind or low vision are drawn to careers in computer science. He thinks that\u2019s partly because many of the skills kids with low vision develop to navigate the world make them good at the kind of computational thinking that\u2019s helpful for a computer science career. And, he said, traditionally it has been a career that is more accessible to people who are blind or low vision, because of tools such as screen readers.<\/p>\n
But at a young age, he said, he\u2019s found that many kids are afraid to start playing around with a computer, especially if they know it\u2019s an expensive, fragile machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re not confident, they won\u2019t have a go at the computer because they\u2019re afraid they\u2019ll break it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut once they\u2019ve gotten over that barrier, then they\u2019ve been successful. Project Torino reinforces that \u2013 they can\u2019t break it and they can do all these really, really cool things.\u201d<\/p>\n
From left, Daniel and Rico were part of a group of students at New College Worcester in Worcester, UK, who participated in a beta test of the technology behind Code Jumper. Photo by Jonathan Banks.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Magnets, blocks and lots of trial and error<\/strong><\/h2>\n
It\u2019s a couple of days later, and Theo is sitting in a small resource room at the school he attends, Kings College School, also in the UK. Theo, who is blind, has been part of the Code Jumper project for years \u2013 in fact, he was one of the first group of students who collaborated with Morrison and others to develop the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI helped them choose what kind of buttons to use,\u201d he said as his hands moved swiftly along the bright plastic pieces, assembling a program as he chatted easily about the computer science skills he\u2019s developed over the years.<\/p>\n
The bright plastic pods, oversized dials and thick cords the students are using today is a far cry from the original ideas Morrison and her collaborator, senior researcher Nicolas Villar, had when they first started thinking of a physical programming language.<\/p>\n
Their original idea was to create a physical programming language that mimicked block coding, complete with actual blocks and magnets. It didn\u2019t work at all. The kids either lined the blocks up in a row and didn\u2019t do anything else, or they grew frustrated by the magnets falling off the table and getting lost.<\/p>\n
Microsoft senior researcher Nicolas Villar. Photo courtesy of Microsoft.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
So, Morrison, Villar and the other team members began meeting regularly with a small group of kids and getting their ideas. Based on the kids\u2019 feedback and ideas, they switched to bigger plastic shapes that fit easily into kids\u2019 hands, and they created surfaces the kids could rub or squeeze in order to recognize and interact with them.<\/p>\n
With the new designs, the kids immediately began exploring ways to put them together and write short programs that made sounds.<\/p>\n
Through the work with the young collaborators, Villar said he started to see the technology from the kids\u2019 perspectives. For example, the kids with some vision benefited from bright, contrasting colors. They also found that kids like to work together, guiding each other\u2019s hands, so they built the pods to be about the size of two kids\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were really helping us invent,\u201d Villar said.<\/p>\n
Once they had figured out what Morrison called \u201cthe kid way of engaging with things,\u201d they set to work making sure that the system also would teach kids the basics of coding, such as how to create a sequence and what steps you need to take in order to debug.<\/p>\n
The researchers also created detailed guidance that teachers without a computer science background could use to help kids develop coding skills, since they couldn\u2019t expect all schools to have an IT specialist available to work with students who are blind or low vison.<\/p>\n
For Villar, the impact of Code Jumper has extended far beyond just this project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s opened my eyes to different perspectives, different ways of focusing or seeing the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Theo, the involvement with Project Torino has been life changing as well. He\u2019s now doing more complex coding, including recently writing a hangman game in Python \u2013 something he says he couldn\u2019t have done without the basics he learned using Code Jumper. Equally important to him, he\u2019s made new friends with other kids in school who are also interested in coding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really good socially for us,\u201d said Elin, his mother.<\/p>\n
Theo demonstrates a program he created with the technology behind Code Jumper as his mother looks on. Photo by Jonathan Banks.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Big plans<\/strong><\/h2>\n
In late 2017, Villar flew to Kentucky to show the leadership at American Printing House for the Blind a demonstration of the project. Craig Meador, APH\u2019s president and a longtime educator, said he was immediately drawn to how intuitive and interesting the system would be to kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you put this in a classroom, not only is the blind student going to be using this but every student in the classroom is going to want a crack at this,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom a teacher\u2019s perspective, that\u2019s all you ever really want \u2013 something that\u2019s inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skutchan, APH\u2019s technology director, said the fact that it\u2019s immediately accessible for kids with no prior computing experience is important. In the past, he said, kids who are blind or with low vision who wanted to get into coding had to first learn other computing skills, such as how to type and use a screen reader. That made it harder to get started at a young age \u2013 and potentially closed the door to a field that could have provided a career for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think coding is an equalizing field to be in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meador and Skutchan have grand plans for Code Jumper, including developing a curriculum and figuring out distribution and other levels of support. APH plans to release Code Jumper first in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and then to distribute it throughout the world.<\/p>\n
They say it\u2019s the type of system they may have dreamed of \u2013 but would never have had the resources to create themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never really had anything that\u2019s been able to give students so many different ways they can experiment and learn about coding,\u201d he said, \u201cand it translates so well into actual skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
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