Image programming in the Racket MOOC

Racket MOOC spring 2017 has now completed. This was the fourth time Koodiaapinen MOOC was arranged for primary school teachers in Finland. As the instructor of Racket track, I must say that the most interesting part has been to follow the outcome of the image programming lessons. Right after the first lesson this plethora of images was returned as the first coding assignment:

The task was to code one simple image or a flag but many took the assignment further and created something original.

The last assigment was to release your inner creativity and play around with Racket Turtle. This is what was created as a result:

And you didn't have to stay with pictures only, you could animate them too. Here are some animation examples from the third lesson:

Test this animation by moving the ice cream with your mouse

Test this animation

Test this animation by moving your mouse over it

Image programming is a good way to ignate interest in programming. Programming images makes the end result concrete and you can create something of your own. It is a good starting point for 7. graders next fall, when school start to implement the requirements of the new curriculum of math. More information about Racket programming can be found from here: racket.koodiaapinen.fi (in Finnish).