From Challenges to Creations: My Coding Journey

From Challenges to Creations: My Coding Journey

By: Claire Victoria Tanurahardja (8B Student)

Coding is an essential part of the world we live in, as it is required for everyday tasks such as working using certain applications, or spending leisure time playing games. Due to that, there has been an increasing number of schools that are teaching coding, and Stella Maris School Gading Serpong is one of them.

Stella Maris School Gading Serpong provides a coding class in collaboration with Koding Next, our lesson periods are 40 minutes long and since coding lessons, at least in my grade, are two periods long, we have 1 hour and 20 minutes worth of coding lessons per week, and we learn a lot! During semester 1 of grade 8, we used Thunkable, a site that is similar to scratch but is used to create mobile applications.

Our teacher during our first semester made learning using Thunkable fun and exciting, even if what we were learning could be boring to some. Occasionally, he would give us challenges during lessons, and we would be rewarded if we were one of the people that could beat these challenges. He would always make sure we all understood what we were learning, these lessons are always enjoyable and engaging, and I’m confident that the other teachers are just as capable of teaching as him. 

Personal projects are projects that are done at the end of every semester, and in my opinion, they are one of the best ways to take a look back on what you’ve learnt throughout the 6 months of a semester, and they’re also a way to express creativity. For last semester’s personal project, we had to make it about either SDG 3 or 11 (SDG being an acronym for Sustainable Development Goals, a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity). We were free to make whatever we wanted, but it still had to tie back into SDG 3 or 11.

For my personal project, I decided to make it about both SDG 3 and 11, it’s an app about information of both SDGs as well as reports, contacts and more. I made use of most of what was taught, such as buttons and switches. Even though it was slightly difficult, my teacher had been extremely helpful throughout the process, and overall, I’m satisfied with the product.

Learning coding at Stella Maris has been incredibly fun, and I love expressing my creativity as well as using my knowledge from what was taught for personal projects. I’ve learnt a lot from these lessons throughout grade 7 and 8, and I’m excited to learn more in the future.