Codea is a great app for students who have some coding experience to create their own iPad apps. It is a programming editor built on the Lua coding language. Because Codea runs on the iPad, rather than a PC, it enables student to "touch" the code directly and tap to make changes. There also is a visual editor that allows for choosing the specific section of code. This is not an app for teaching someone how to code. Rather, it assumes a familiarity with programming concepts and procedures. There is a tutorial that gives students an overview of the program features, but there are no practice exercises, or guided introduction to the program. Instead, users simply dive in and start creating. Codea does come with several sample projects that provide ideas along with sample code that can be imported into new projects as a starting point. This app can be a good fit for a child who is comfortable with the basic concepts of programming and wants to create independent projects.

• Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
• Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
• Presents educational concepts accurately
• Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
• Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
• Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
• Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

• Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
• Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
• Visually appealing to children in the target age range
• Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
• Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
• Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
• Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

• Has a free or trial version
• Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
• Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
• Student should be able to use independently after first use
• Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
• Multiple users can save a profile
• Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
• Can play without sound and not distract others
• Students can save work between sessions
• Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
• Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
• Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
• Overall - Easy to use

• Abstract Reasoning
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Flexible Thinking
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Organization
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Verbal Reasoning
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Assumes specific knowledge or vocabulary without "look-up" options
• Visual Discrimination
• Words used during activity can be too small or difficult to read
• Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement
• Working Memory
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Requires recall of text information without audio or visual reinforcement

"It’s kind of like the Garage Band of coding." – Wired

"Codea for iPad is a super slick way to write and run programs on your iPad." – Gizmodo

Codea lets you create games and simulations — or just about any visual idea you have. Turn your thoughts into interactive creations that make use of iPad features like Multi-Touch and the accelerometer.

We think Codea is the most beautiful code editor you'll use, and it's easy. Codea is designed to let you touch your code. Want to change a color, or an image? Tapping will bring up visual editors that let you choose exactly what you want.

Codea is built on the Lua programming language. A simple, elegant language that doesn't rely too much on symbols — a perfect match for iPad.

Here's how you use it: type your code. Press play to watch it run. Interact with it. Get creative.

FEATURES

• A fully featured 2D and 3D renderer
• Lots of great example projects to learn from, including games
• Touch your code: tap colors, images and sounds to adjust them
• Export your finished projects to Xcode to produce real apps
• Complete in-line reference documentation accessible from keyboard
• Intelligent syntax highlighting and auto-completing code editor
• Import your own assets from Dropbox
• Full 2D and 3D physics engines for complex motion
• Add parameters so you can tweak variables at runtime
• Interact with accelerometer and multi-touch on your device
• Generate retro-game sound effects
• GLSL Shader Language support with live shader editor
• Bluetooth keyboard support and keyboard shortcuts
• Air Code: code live from your PC using WiFi
• Much, much more

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

• Join the forums at https://codea.io/talk to ask questions, share ideas and get help when you need it

• If you need help or wish to get in contact with us, please use the support link on this page