Java4Kids The Last but not Least

 The previous week we had the last 6th lesson in between our little online group of 4 kids-boys. This time I decided to check how Java worked in their heads. Here is how it went.

Picking the best tasks

My goal was to make each student feel he owns the project. 

I've prepared the pool of tasks for the discussion. Kids voted, which ones everyone liked, and which were less interesting. When even one person was against some task, we would put it down in the lesson wishlist. Being a product team is not about democratic decisions, it's about "all or nothing". Kids added some of their nice-to-haves to our list too. Those tasks were also postponed for the better. 

Handling the tasks

This lesson was different because I wasn't the one showing examples of code. I was the one picking who would implement the task. Five lessons I'd been teaching, this time I checked the knowledge. 

Here is the list of our tasks:

- Add more kinds of food with different weights.

- Autogenerate food in different places.

- Let anteater eat ant's food.

The harder tasks were done by more professional kids. The intention was to make them help each other for the sake of a cooler project. It worked. Still, I have to admit that my expectations were higher. I counted that pretty much all of it will be more like a rehearsal, but it wasn't so for all of them. 

Expectations and Reality

- When you explain something, don't expect everyone listens to you even if a moment ago all wanted to know the answer. 

+ The true understanding comes when a question is put to a child and he tries to find the answer. At this moment he may remember what you've just said and take-repeat your explanation.

Summing up the Course

Before and during the first lesson, I was afraid of online with kids, I was so to say touching kids with a stick trying to understand how they work in such mode.

The third lesson was a turning point after which I understood that now I know how to handle the group.

In the next lessons we were heading to a specific goal: to implement the max amount of features to make our game competitive.

The last 6th lesson could be named "Show what you've learned". What made me happy is that some kids learned to work on the code by themselves.

We discussed the plan for the future, possible enhancements. I wish kids continue working on their own or with parents.