Vidcode: Bestie Greeting Card

Vidcode Educator Resource

The Activity

Learn how to make a greeting card with JavaScript! You will learn how to manipulate your own videos by accessing each and every pixel and telling it what to do with CODE! You can also upload and record your own footage to personalize the experience. Created in partnership with GSGNY.

Standards

CSTA 1B-AP-09 Create programs that use variables to store and modify data.

CSTA 1B-AP-10 Create programs that include sequences, events, loops, and conditionals.

CSTA 1B-AP-15 Test and debug (identify and fix errors) a program or algorithm to ensure it runs as intended.

CSTA 1B-IC-21 Use public domain or creative commons media, and refrain from copying or using material created by others without permission.

CSTA 1B-IC-18 Discuss computing technologies that have changed the world, and express how those technologies influence, and are influenced by, cultural practices.

Lesson plan

Big Idea

Coding can be fun with friends! Create a greeting card using JavaScript. Learn about pixels and placing them on x-y grids, using and writings functions, and changing their values to create different effects.

Time: 60 minutes

• 5 minutes background

• 40 minutes coding

• 10 minutes sharing

• 5 minutes reflection

Background

Programs can use functions to create and change effects. These functions control visual effects through values. The amount of the values determine the amount of the effect. The functions sometimes apply to videos or to text. Text functions also control the content of the text displayed.

Code Challenge

Show the example project. Students will use functions to create a bestie card, and individualize it by making their own video, changing function values, color, text and graphic.

Reflection

What did you learn during this Hour of Code?

• How would you explain creative coding to your friend?

• What is a function?

• What are function values? What happens when you change them?

• What is a property? How does it relate to an object?

The Girl Scouts of Greater New York and Vidcode Partnership

Our partnership is centered on a shared commitment to give teen girls leadership and STEM opportunities.

Girl Scouts of Greater New York is New York City’s largest girls-only leadership program, reaching 31,000+ girls ages 5 to 17 in every zip code of the five boroughs with the help of 8,100+ dedicated volunteers. Girl Scouts enjoy programs that include STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), Business & Entrepreneurship, Environmental Leadership, and Personal Identity Leadership.

Vidcode is an award-winning software that teaches teens computer programming through their favorite hobby: video-making. Vidcode was built with teen girls in mind by an all female engineering team. Today it used by all - boys love it too! Users can upload mobile videos, code effects, and share with friends.

On Vidcode, we offer a multi-hour, self-paced curriculum in JavaScript for your Girl Scout troop to learn the fundamentals of programming and beyond! We teach programming through the lens of art. It's collaborative, social, and creative. For Computer Science Education Week we've created a special experience to get you started.

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