Creative Coding in Python was written to teach ANYONE to learn to code—especially those who may not have an opportunity to learn coding in school.
The book’s inspiration comes from teaching hundreds of classes on Python to both middle schoolers and teachers. While the book was not designed as a formal textbook, it definitely can be a fun and low cost textbook for any classroom OR serve as a basis of a curriculum for any teacher using Python in their class.
How to use this Book’s format to fit a Classroom course
The book is divided into 5 chapters, slowly building from easier and more concrete topics to more abstract and complex ones. Each chapter has 3 clear sections:
THE BIG IDEAS
This explains the fundamental concepts in programming using simple metaphors and colorful illustrations. Each idea is followed by short snippets of Python code to show how to apply them in Python.
IN THE CLASSROOM
The ‘Big Ideas’ translate clearly into the Objectives for the lesson and each one can be turned into a mini lesson where the concept is explained to the students using unplugged exercises, teacher led demonstrations and/or a ‘Read and Do’ activity.
the projects section
This section has an open engaging project that is designed carefully to allow maximum choice and creativity for the student. There are clear step-by-step instructions with pseudocode or flowcharts to explain the thinking process.
IN THE CLASSROOM
The Project section can be done either as a ‘Code Together’ or a ‘Code on your own’ - a time to build out and understand a larger project step by step.
EXPERIMENT & EXTEND
This is the last part of each chapter and has several project ideas to create similar style projects as the main project in the chapter, as well as extend the main project. This gives students challenges to practice the learning from the chapter and reinforce the concepts.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This section can be assigned as classroom coding practice exercises (challenge set) , either to be done individually or with a partner. One or more projects could be submitted for assessment after a possible share-out (mini showcase) , peer-grading and reflection.
Teacher Guide / Curriculum & Lesson Plans
You can use this book to create a Python course for any grade level. A sample course description as well as a sample pacing guide shows you h ow to use the book . A sample lesson plan showing how to run a 45 minute lesson based directly from the book is also included. The Teacher Guide gives you detailed activities that can be run in any class as a self-paced lesson/ teacher led class and/or as assessments.