Python

In primary schools in England, teachers are using Scratch widely, but at secondary level (post 11 years) they are also required to develop a second coding language, and many reach for Python.

To make Python more accessible to students, I worked with my grand-daughter, then aged 9, to develop Python teaching materials for writing very short animal stories. By choosing a classroom setting for the stories, we were also able to explore the curriculum. The web site we created is called Literacy from Python. Into these short stories, we were able to add further Python elements, such as times tables, and geometric shapes (for Maths), drawings of plants and illuminated letters (for Biology, and a History lesson), If, Then, Else (for a Geography quiz).

On the web site are five brief story chapters, centred on Beth’s delightful animal characters.

Stories for Children 2

These same characters appear elsewhere, in stories exploring computer coding concepts: Algorithms, Abstraction, Decomposition, Generalisation, Logical Thinking, Debugging.

By providing these resources, we hope to encourage the development of cross-curricular teaching and learning, as well as creative writing.