Code Jumper Aims to Jumpstart Computer Science Interest for Kids Who Are Blind

Computer programming has previously been a challenge to teach to students with a visual impairment.

But now Microsoft is addressing the challenge with a product that features pods that come together in different ways to carry out different functions.

The BBC experienced this for themselves when they met Theo Holroyd and Ollie Gerety, who both share a passion for coding. Until recently, it was difficult for them to collaborate at school and to work together on a program.

Theo is blind and the method used by the school to introduce children to simple coding concepts wasn’t quite working for him.

Before now, Scratch – which was used in hundreds of Primary Schools – was used and it involves dragging coloured blocks of code around a screen and then watching an animation.

Microsoft has now developed a physical programming language to make coding accessible to anyone with visual difficulties.

The quite brilliant Code Jumper consists of a series of pods, each of which contains a single line of code, representing a set of commands.

Using various touch points and being creative, they can be joined together to different sequences to create a program – and Theo and Ollie have helped test and refine the system.

Read the full BBC article here.