Scissors-Paper-Rock your classroom with differentiated projects

To engage kids with programming we need to give them the chance to conquer new and interesting programming challenges suitable for their level of experience. Accommodating a range of different experience levels in a group of students is difficult, finding a project that won’t bore some and obliterate others can seem impossible.

Setting completely different projects for “newbies” and “pros” might seem like a better option, but can demoralise “slow Sam” when he realises he can’t keep up with the pros and leave “Fast Fran” with nothing to do when she chooses a project below her level. Having one project that allows Sam and Fran to move between levels easily without having to start from scratch would be ideal.

As part of an organisation providing coding workshops for kids we work with hundreds of children each year. Our aim is to challenge and extend the skills and confidence of every child through fun and authentic programming experiences. Our students range from complete beginners to pros with years of coding practice under their belt. No matter what their level, every child needs to be given the chance to achieve the publicised project for the day. Learn how we take projects like scissors paper rock, cryptography or Markov chains, and turn each into a project suitable for all levels.

This talk will show you how we design a set of “beginner”, “intermediate” and “advanced” versions of the same project by mixing and matching python concepts from variables to object oriented programming. It will show you how we use bonuses and extensions to occupy speedier students at each level, keeping the class together so you can present key concepts to everyone at once.