Coding in the Classroom

Coding can be a useful tool in a classroom but isn’t as widely taught as some people may think. Coding is essentially the process of writing commands that a computer follows to carry out a task. The skill of coding is useful in creating many applicable things we use every day like video games, websites, applications, and much more. So, how can we teach and use coding in the classroom?

Coding, by its nature, requires a certain threshold of patience and problem-solving to be successful, two very important things to have and learn when entering the real world. There is a lot of trial and error that goes with coding, and being able to stomach that is important.  Coding also improves a student’s knowledge of how a computer works. When going about their everyday tasks, people that know and understand code can see the various background processes that go into a computer and can see that some websites or social media are coded in a way to make you use their apps as much as possible. This also allows students to become digital creators. The world today is almost always centered around technology and your ability to use it. Being able to create a program that may be useful to others can help students set themselves up for the future. So, how can you teach coding in the classroom?

The skills of patience and problem-solving required for coding are also used in every mathematics classroom. Coding in math can be used to solve complex problems that are too tiresome to calculate by hand or be used to have students create a step-by-step program to better show student understanding. That does not mean coding is limited to just the math classroom though. You can apply coding to any subject matter or classroom you can think of.  For example, let’s say you are in a writing class, and you want students to write a short story.  Have the students code a MadLib-type story where you input words to create different stories.  You could also have the students share each other’s programs so they could see many different stories.

Overall, I feel coding can be an important skill to have in today’s world. To some people (me included), coding can be scary, and we tend to avoid it. However, teaching coding to the younger generation that will enter a world full of technology and algorithms will help set them up for a brighter future.