Code of Origin — are you ready?
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Code of Origin is the latest initiative to come from Code Club Australia. After 4 months of development, we are finally ready to release a teaser for this new coding challenge, as a kickoff to the event starting in January 2023. What to know more about Code of Origin and how your coders can be involved? Find all of the details below.
Earlier in the year Code Club Australia asked clubs for feedback via our annual census about what we could do to support clubs. From this feedback we had 2 clear messages: mini challengers similar to Moonhack and more Australian content. From this, Code of Origin was born.
You may remember earlier in the year that we asked questions from our clubs about what makes each state unique? We recorded and tallied this information, and it has been used to form the Code of Origin challenge.
How will it work?
Starting in 2023 Code Club Australia will release specially created coding projects each school term that will showcase what makes each state and territory in Australia unique. In term 1 of next year, from January through to April, 4 Scratch projects will be released. Of these projects two will focus on New South Wales and two on Queensland. The aim of the projects is to engage youth in coding, develop their computational thinking skills and to learn more about Australia along the way.
Throughout the term clubs will have an opportunity to vote on which of the two states should be declared the winner for the term, based on the projects. The term 1 projects feature a catch style game where people will learn about what each state produces and a hide and seek style game that highlights famous places in the state.
Each project will come with a starter project in Scratch, instruction sheets and challenges at the end of the project for coders who would like to take the project further. Code Club Australia will also feature a blog that will provide extra information for teachers to use as part of their unit planning, with curriculum links to relevant subjects, links to relevant websites and extra resources.
What will the order be?
The order of states and territories featured has been mapped out and is as follows.
Term 1 — New South Wales and Queensland
Term 2 — Victoria and Western Australia
Term 3 — Northern Territory and Tasmania
Term 4 — Australian Capital Territory and South Australia
We encourage all clubs across Australia to join in the fun every term and to also vote every term. In the new year when the challenge officially begins the Code of Origin page on the Code Club Australia website that will hold all the information needed: how the challenge works, links to projects, voting platform, submission button for projects to be considered for the Code of Origin scratch studio, links to blog posts and regular updates.
Our testers
Our projects go through rounds of testing before being released and our new projects are no exception. One of our Code Clubs in Queensland were testers for the first projects.
Our youth were keen to use their coding skills in a new way as they tested algorithms, checked instructions, verified logical sequencing and most importantly made sure it is fun! When testing the Kick Off! project one coder commented, “I think they (kids) will like about the game how it involves the idea of the 90’s game pong and how the football reflects off the panels, and they will learn about football.”
Our newsletters and socials will keep you up to date with project releases, competition results and new resources. We can’t wait to start! And to get your coders excited, here is the Kick Off! project.
Happy coding!
Kaye North, Code Club Australia
