Coding and computational thinking is rapidly making it’s way into mathematics education. The ability to break a problem down into pieces, and use variables and computations to complete an action is an ideal way to teach students how to unite scientific thinking, mathematical practice, and digital creation.
CodeCombat is a great tool which I have been using with middle-school classes to teach computational thinking and coding. The program is set up like a video game where a student must use one of several programming languages to instruct their hero how to navigate mazes and defeat enemies. The programming is text-based and is a great way to introduce students who have up till now only seen visual-based programming. The free version is playable for between 1 and 2 hours with a class. There are many license options available if you wish to proceed further with students.
