Maker Emanuele Marino’s didactic experience.
“I have used the CS First platform since 2022. In the past year, I have used it as a coach with primary and secondary school teachers, many of them new to this formidable computer literacy tool,” points out Emanuele Marino, Fondazione Mondo Digitale Coach, to Onelia Onorati who interviewed him. Don’t forget that Emanuele, a computer engineer, is among the founders of the Fab Lab in Reggio Calabria and has already collaborated with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale on Project OpenSpace.
What do you think about the platform?
“CS First is the ideal solution for introducing a coding course to primary and lower secondary school class groups. The platform uses Scratch as the basic language for coding activities, but the most important aspect that differentiates it from other comparable solutions is the activity management tools and the groups of participants that use Google solutions already active at the school.”
What are its strong points?
“A teacher who begins to familiarise with CS First will understand its added value immediately. Like the ability to manage activities with the class and monitor their progress or the possibility of regulating access to the platform in full compliance with privacy regulations ... Students, on the other hand, find the platform intuitive and easy to use. They appreciate the tutorials, integrated videos, and support activities, and coding becomes a fun active learning experience. On a more general level, the platform is a great tool for the introduction of computational thinking and coding; moreover, Scratch is a very useful tool for multidisciplinary activities – humanities, arts, music – not just STEM.”
What was your impression of CS First?
“At the end of lessons, the teachers’ enthusiasm for the potential of the platform and its many resources is clear. Class access and activity management is the most appreciated feature. CS First is perceived as a tool to support didactic activities through coding.”
