The Education Minister & future of Irish Coding
In a letter to the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NCCA) Education Minister Richard Bruton said: “I am acutely conscious that we need to give all children the best start in a world where such skills will be key to participation and success”.
While the NCCA are redeveloping areas of the curriculum such as Maths, the success of initiatives such as Coder Dojo are testament to how effective it is.
“The success of the CoderDojo project is a fantastic example of the benefits of teaching coding to young children. Hugely popular with children, it teaches creative problem-solving skills in a manner that engages and excites them.”
The Minister further added:
“For the generation of children recently born and starting to enter primary school, creative thinking and problem-solving skills will be absolutely key to how they develop in reach and achieve their potential. In particular, their ability to think critically and develop solutions in the digital world will be vital for their prospects in life.”
Up until this point, there’s been little direction from the Department on how to approach this global phenomenon and coding was down to teacher initiative. However with this endorsement and recognition, we can expect more and more coding in schools but for many parents, 'coding' still can remain a mystery.
Read here why RTÉ LifeStyle love Coder Dojo!
It’s the Chocolate Coated Broccoli in the room
What is Coding and what's so good about it? Coding is computer programming using maths and creativity to make digital stuff. It’s the age old ‘Chocolate Coated Broccoli’, they’re learning and they don’t even realise it. It’s easily pitchable to any interest and ability. So age-old subjects like Maths where, let’s be honest kids can find a bit tedious, can have a modern digital makeover.
It's great because:
- Interactive
- Collaborative
- Covers a mix of subjects
- Suits any ability
As a former teacher, I’m a big fan of coding. But at every one of my parent-teacher meetings, a common concern was around computers. “They’re spending too much time on them. Why aren’t the copies full? Who needs to learn how to code anyway, they’re only 8 years old!?”
I use this example to demonstrate coding's appeal. When teaching addition in 2nd Class and Maths, lessons can become very stale. There's only so many concrete activities you can do with apples, pizza slices or lollipops...before the robotic 'sums in copies' takes over. It's very off-putting! But with a small coding lessons, it changed. Kids actually looked forward to Maths.
We set up a football game to coincide with a local football league. Kids picked teams to represent, and for every correct answer your goalkeeper saved a penalty. If you made a mistake, you missed the save.
The kids played against each other, tried beating high scores, and could well have added more than 50 sums in one sitting. It was collaborative. Sums were tailored to children's abilities. So while the copies remained empty, more and more work was being done.
Parents can swot up on Coding with these resources
Coding is a pretty approachable task for all ages and not as complex as you might think.
With each of these sites comes a parents section, equipped full of videos, tutorials, guides and ideas. And with coding being collaborative, it makes sense to try these out with your children!
Already very popular in Irish classrooms, Scratch is a perfect resource to get to grips with coding. It’s free, and no download is necessary. The Irish website Scratch.ie has lots of information and competitions on the Irish coding scene! Making simple games or animations is a great introduction.
Millions of kids have already worked on Tunker. It's a platform where kids can learn coding at their own pace in a fun, creative environment. It also supports the curricilum very well so there's always an educational benefit. And again, there's a great parenting section for all you coding newbies.
Suited towards the older coders out there, Stencyl lets kids make games, puzzles and tell stories in pretty imaginative ways. There is a big focus on publishing your game, meaning that if your kid has all the skills, it's time to share them with the world! With a lot of different packages available, Stencyl does have a free model available for all to use.
School's back soon so hope this helps keep you in the know when your wee ones come home talking coding lingo!
