Make Create Educate

Educational value of coding There has been discussion on the value of coding. Does teaching coding to Primary aged students steal valuable teaching time from literacy and maths. What does coding teach? Ultimately reading, writing and spelling skills are among the most important skills students take from education. Communication empowers people to learn and do more with their life. Skills taught in coding Coding teaches Logic - work through an order of steps Perseverance -  must solve the problem Problem solving Reading if following online tutorials Group work Coding can be used to teach Procedure writing Recounts Descriptions Information Reports Expositions Maths - 2 D shapes and angles Some of my most enthusiastic coders are average spellers and readers. One student was receiving ed support and I didn't know. Coding is a motivation to read. I have other students who are poor spellers. When typing code in HTML,  codeacademy ,  pencilcode.net ...

In July 2013, I began a lunch time KodeKlub for our primary students (aged between 8-12 years). With the increasing popularity of coding in schools I have decided to share my journey. For the first 12 months the club as been by invitation only. I have taken recommendations from teachers and from club members. My reasoning for having an invitation only club was: Existing lunchtime computer clubs, in my school, can attract in excess of 50 students and this was too many for one person. I wanted to maintain a small club to build my skills. The students who attended the club were already interested in technology and some had experience in coding. They were very interested in building websites using HTML. I began by introducing students to codeacademy.com , students used their school issued gmail to signup. The first tutorials they completed were on HTML. In the past 12 months we have progressed beyond tutorials to self organised learning and personal interest projects. ...