Why Code?

Initially, when I chose coding as an area to explore further I thought I would find many articles, resources and materials.  From my previous post, you will have noticed that I found many websites that promote coding in the classroom and provide resources for teachers such as Canada Learning Code, CS Unplugged and Code.Org.  There seems to be a large percentage of non-profit and for profit organizations promoting coding in the classroom. However, I do find this very challenging as an educator with not knowing which ones are the best.  It is difficult to know if they have been vetted, or meet curricular standards. The vast array of websites available for teachers as well as the abundance of technology surrounding coding actually became overwhelming.  It seems like every week there is a new website, or technology tool/toy being released focusing on coding. I can see why this is causing some anxiety and discomfort for the teachers in my school.

With the abundance of websites and technology tools available on coding, I thought for this week’s post, I would try to dig a little deeper into just the literature available for teachers which could be shared so they understood the importance of coding. Unfortunately, since coding in the elementary classrooms is just beginning to see a surge, I found an absence in the literature directly related to the why for coding in elementary schools.  I was disappointed as I thought this would beneficial to share with teachers. I have shared a summary of the article which I found from last week, but since I was not satisfied with the links I found last week, I continued to search for additional articles.

Mak, J. (2014). Coding in the elementary school classroom. Learning & Leading with

Technology, 41(6), 26.

This article is a reflective piece where a teacher shares her experiences with coding in a grade three/four classroom.  She shares how she is integrating coding into her classroom lessons using Scratch, teaching about binary numbers and using robotics.  Mak shares her thoughts on the benefits of coding to meet the ISTE standards of creativity, innovation, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.  From this article, we are able to see how coding can address many different standards.

Lafee, S. (2017). CODING: The New 21st-Century Literacy? Education Digest, 83(2),

25–30. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/loginurl=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=aph&AN=124788424&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This article initially focuses on the need for computer science courses due to the shortage of individuals to meet the demands in the workforce.  It addresses the idea of coding being considered the new 21st century literacy and the need for our students to become literate in the language so they are able to meet the needs of the shortage. The article also mentions the minimal research available on computer science in classrooms.  As well as the concern for qualified educators, funding and adequate access are also noted as barriers for the lack of computing science in schools. This article also provides 3 different case studies of how coding is being used in the classroom. In all three case studies, each school paired with an specific organization such as Code.Org and MobileMakersEdu.

PRATO, S. C. (2017). Beyond the Computer Age. Children & Libraries: The Journal of

the Association for Library Service to Children, 15(1), 19–21. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx

direct=true&db=aph&AN=121641136&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The title of this article caught my attention.  My hope was it would share some of the why to coding.  The article is a public library sharing their best practices and tools they have used in the library.  This included sharing a list of Free Resources/Websites. In addition to technology tools to help facilitate coding, the article mentions coding with robots such as Dot and Dash & Ozobots which I mentioned in my previous post as well as coding with computers using programs such as Scratch.  

My key learnings and takeaways from this deeper exploration is we are still in the beginning stages of learning about coding in the elementary classroom.  We know coding skills are in high demand in the workforce however we are still learning the best practices on how to prepare our students for this workforce.  We are also still in the beginning stages of learning the best ways to help our students progress in coding. There is very little evidence on what areas of coding we should be teaching our children at such a young age. The draft of the Alberta Education new curriculum which was shared in my previous post has decided that the beginning stages will be on understanding directions, repetitions and ordering of steps. On the other hand, it needs to be noted that this curriculum has yet to be approved and has also been changed already due to teacher and parental feedback.

I am very interested to see how coding will continue to progress in classrooms in the years to come.  I am also very interested in the continued research regarding coding in the elementary classroom as it becomes available.  

Alberta Education.  (2018, July 19). Draft K-4 math curriculum - April 2018. Retrieved from

https://education.alberta.ca/media/3772067/math-april2018.pdf

Canada Learning Code. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.canadalearningcode.ca/

Code.org: Anybody can Learn. (2018). Retrieved from https://code.org/

CS Unplugged. (2018). Retrieved from https://csunplugged.org/en/

Huerta, M. (2018). Coding in the Classroom: A Long-Overdue Inclusion | Edutopia. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/coding-classroom-long-overdue-inclusion-merle-huerta

Lafee, S. (2017). CODING: The New 21st-Century Literacy? Education Digest, 83(2), 25–30. Retrieved from

http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx

direct=true&db=aph&AN=124788424&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Mak, J. (2014). Coding in the elementary school classroom. Learning & Leading with Technology, 41(6), 26.

PRATO, S. C. (2017). Beyond the Computer Age. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for

Library Service to Children, 15(1), 19–21. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=121641136&site=ehost-

live&scope=site