Students and Programming. The Importance of Involving a Senior Leadership Team for the Benefit of Students Participating in Coding

Abstract

The following essay will highlight the importance of introducing coding within International schools, with one objective to get students enthusiastic about learning and discovering new technologies, exploring new software, and creating their own programmes to benefit their educational learning in your school. Making provision for mathematics, science, technology and engineering, whilst attending to their intellectual stimulation through high levels of engagement, participation and a range of fun-filled activities where students are engaged, and share ideas, opinions, and skills to motivate others within a diverse setting.

Keywords: Coding, Curriculum, Education, International Baccalaureate Programme, Technology, STEM

Introduction

For this essay, the author has chosen the topic of how to involve the head of the school, to suggest the importance of introducing coding to students to benefit overall in their academic studies to promote STEM in the schools. Creating opportunities for students to explore their radical minds and encouraging inquiry-based learning to motivate them further to prepare them for 21st-century learning. The reason why the author chose action, keeping in mind, we as teachers will have to accept responsibility to execute the implementation of technology, and coding within schools to promote further developments in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, which ultimately fits well into the PYP programme enhancing learning agencies.

How to convince the Head of School, administrators, and parents of the importance of coding

When one thinks of technology or the use of ICT and Information Technology (IT) one automatically assumes it has some connection with programming, coding and software. As educators, we know the importance of software and why it is important to choose the correct application available for students and other teachers to use to promote STEM in most schools. Through transdisciplinary learning, students have the opportunity to think out of the box, think creatively about things, accept ownership for their own learning as students conclude the PYP (Primary Years Programme), and MYP (Middle Years Programme), the information gathered into context, and share their ideas and opinions through various social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Line.

Through inquiry-based activities, students think about reflections and how they can improve. It is very important to allow students to participate actively in coding as outlined by Stauffer (2020), and Wolpert-Gawron (2016). There are several reasons why inquiry-based learning is important, apart from triggering curiosity to get students actively involved in a range of learning activities to develop questions that they hope to answer, and develop their responses further, research topics used in the classroom, allowing students to present what they have learned, and allowing time to reflect on what they have learned and achieved in the classroom. Reflection is imperative and allowing students to write detailed learning experiences in their journals is important to promote excitement, and curiosity whilst extending their knowledge, theory, and understanding of STEM.

According to Hasan (n.d.), which confirms that: “Learning to code at a young age will provide good insurance in terms of supporting and preparing kids for the massive growth and development of technology in the future” (para. 1). The emphasis being placed on preparing the students for the future, whilst Bonfligo (2018) iterates that:

If we want to set our children up for academic success, every child should learn to code. Coding for kids not only helps improve their mathematics and writing skills but also gives them valuable skills in life and eventually in the workforce. There are various reasons why coding is important to learn and why coding should be taught in schools from an early age. The early children learn to code, the better their chance at success (p.1).

Reflecting on that statement allows students to know how these programs work and will be an advantage for them to look at the loopholes and try to improve things to take into consideration the differences and improvements that are needed. Preparing students for the 21st century has promoted collaboration, cooperative learning and opportunities for high levels of engagement amongst their peers encouraging them to want to learn more and discover new things through extending their learning and understanding of a particular topic. Inquiry-based learning ties well with promoting students to think creatively and out of the box which ultimately connects with the ideologies of the International Baccalaureate programme. This allows students to become creative and think critically as outlined by IBO (2018).

The benefits teachers will gain through motivating students to explore technology will encompass the improvement of critical thinking, they will make sound decisions and figure out things through problem-solving. It helps them to be more patient, through perseverance in their efforts to understand and learn something new. It improves creativity, where students can explore the different programmes available by having the word at their fingertips, collaborating with others around the globe, and having conversations whilst seeing each other using a handheld device or mobile phone. It will definitely improve their mathematical skills, students have the need to want to solve problems logically, and as a result, mathematics has become an ineffective skill for the child. Learning to code makes mathematics a lot more fun, interesting and enjoyable by applying these skills further to demonstrate in real-life situations. It improves confidence as a key to success, where students might have struggled in the past to demonstrate their experiences and abilities. Through exploring coding students become more confident in learning a new skill by exploring new possibilities.

They are constantly using their Various Approaches to Teaching and Learning (ATL) skills through understanding and exploring their self-management skills by being organised, thinking responsibly and acting accordingly in a positive light. Through means of their social skills students have the opportunity through different programs and applications to converse and communicate with other students and their peers, promoting collaboration and active participation focusing on making connections within a global context and becoming “International Minded” as outlined by IBO (n.d., 2018). They will develop their thinking skills by being critical about everything they learn, thus developing their research skills through exploring different content, information and other resources to extend their knowledge and understanding of a particular topic, etc.

Conclusion

Reflecting on how one introduces technology into your own classroom is imperative, especially at the beginning stages of planning accordingly your lessons and looking at the curriculum throughout the whole school. Allowing them to become lifelong learners is not just teaching them a skill but securing them with the life skills that they will inevitably be able to apply throughout their lives as becoming responsible citizens, and skilled workers in the professional workplace. Concluding, it is important to convince administrators, and heads of schools of the importance of allowing students to participate actively in coding and the educational benefits shared. Educating them about the importance of introducing coding into the curriculum can only be beneficial for the students to allow them to grow and teach their full potential.

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