If this is the Second Coming of Coding Will There Be Rapture or Rejection?

Peter AlbionUniversity of Southern Queensland

Coding grabbed headlines in 2015

• Federal Parliament• Shorten to Abbott

• Will you “support coding being taught in every primary and secondary school?”

• Abbott to Shorten

• Will kids go to work as coders at age 11?

• Later confirmed coding was in the national curriculum

• Queensland launched Advancing Education• #codingcounts + coding academy

• Fast-tracking Digital Technologies subject

• Robotics focus

Coding, programming & computational thinking

• Coding is the headline grabbing buzzword

• Programming specifies the logic of a solution• Coding expresses that in a suitable language

• Coding is a subtask of programming

• Terms often used interchangeably

• Computational thinking is broader again• Key idea in Australian Curriculum: Technologies

Can teachers teach coding?

• Former Chief Scientist• Primary teachers are not sufficiently prepared to teach coding

• Proposed solutions

• Attract higher quality students

• Boost STEM courses in teacher preparation

• Improve professional development

• Recruit specialist teachers to mentor

• No short term solutions here

• Teachers are concerned about learning to code before teaching it• Risks turning kids off rather than on

http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/are-teachers-ready-to-teach-

coding-ian-chubb-doesnt-think-so-20151210-glkibe

Why teach coding?

• Common answers• Future employment

• Development of logic & problem solving skills

• Trucano (2015): Coding to learn rather than learning to code• Supporting learning across the curriculum

• Chubb (2015): Future-priming vs future-proofing• Prepare to take advantage of technological change

flickr photo by Harlow Heslop

https://flickr.com/photos/harlowheslop/16587677387

shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

History of coding in Queensland schools

• Some of us were around schools in the 1980s

• 1975: Coding arrived with computing in mathematics syllabus• Few schools had computers

• Mark cards, send away, wait, debug, repeat

• Shift to programmable calculators

• More agile cycle

• 1978: Microcomputers began to arrive in schools• Apple ][, Commodore PET, Tandy TRS80, Ohio Scientific

• Lacked commercial software, coding in mathematics

• Few enough for state-wide annual report of inventoryflickr photo by m01229

https://flickr.com/photos/39908901

@N06/7078658229 shared under a

Creative Commons (BY) license

First coming of coding for all

• Logo – based on Lisp, a list processing language• Developed by Papert from 1967

• Version for Apple ][ in late 1980s

• Popularised in 1980s on microcomputers in schools

• Papert saw computers teaching kids• Argued kids should teach computers

• Power of learning by teaching

• Need to clarify ideas and express them clearly

• Computer as endlessly patient learner

flickr photo by Benjamin Chun

https://flickr.com/photos/benchun/

5502826711 shared under a Creative

Commons (BY-SA) license

Papert & learning

• Constructivism based on work with Piaget

• Children learn language & more by immersion• Favoured ‘microworlds’ for learning by immersion

• Turtle microworld embodied geometric and mathematical ideas

• Floor turtle was mechanical and expensive

• Transitioned to computer screen

• Constructionism• Learning is best demonstrated by building some artefact

flickr photo by Tom Morris

https://flickr.com/photos/tommo

rris/2584829655 shared under a

Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA)

license

Rise & demise of Logo

• Logo was extended and used into the 1990s• Early Lego robotics

• LogoWriter and other variants

• Few teachers or schools got beyond simplest uses• Drawing shapes

• Few teachers knew of more uses

• From mid-1980s application software took focus

• First coming of coding was rejected

flickr photo by gurdonark

https://flickr.com/photos/46183897@N00/7614684138

shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

Second coming of coding for all

• Coding persisted and expanded into 1990s and beyond• Specialised subjects in secondary schools

• No widespread adoption in general education

• 20teens: Renewed interest in computer science in schools• Friedman (2006) argued transdisciplinary workers needed

some coding

• Corporations are interested in securing future workforce

• Governments are concerned about future of economy

• Curricula are being revised to include• Programming, coding, computational thinking

flickr photo by ©aius

https://flickr.com/photos/caius/2300154566

shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

ACT – Digital Technologies

• Creating digital solutions as focus

• Computational thinking as key idea

• Elements of programming and coding as core for all

• Curriculum review (Donnelly & Wiltshire, 2014)• Sceptical about inclusions and Australia leading but other

countries are doing it

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technolo

gies/digital-technologies/structure

Coding enthusiasts

• Sterling (2015)• Coding is central to modern technology

• All should understand possibilities

• Some will need proficiency

• Compared to place of Art in education

• Cultural significance but only some are artists

• Opposed to laptops, smartphones are enough

• That genie is out of the bottle

flickr photo by palbion https://flickr.com/photos/palbion/6789459911

shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Coding sceptics

• Merkel & McNamara (2015)• A little bit of coding may be dangerous

• Misrepresents IT with simplistic approaches

• Encourages ad hoc tinkering

• IT requires systematic software engineering

• Structured team work

• DT curriculum is futile

• Demands too much of learners and teachers

flickr photo by palbion

https://flickr.com/photos/palbion/19670

594729 shared under a Creative Commons

(BY-NC-SA) license

Educator view

• Stuckey (2015)• Taught Logo in mathematics curriculum

• Learned BASIC years ago

• Early microcomputers had few options

• Very limited applications software

• No longer codes

• Knows very few who do

• Not creating digital solutions?

• Response

• Focus on logic & computational thinking

• Leave coding outside the classroom flickr photo by Terry Freedman

https://flickr.com/photos/terryfreedman/6763119437 shared under a Creative

Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

Coding as new literacy

• Political slogan – does it hold up?

• Stuckey (2015) argues for science as new literacy• Coding tucked under

• Literacy suggests necessity for daily life

• Is that the issue?

• Much of schooling has limited everyday utility

• Valued for broader benefits

• Important that teachers and students see valueflickr photo by planeta

https://flickr.com/photos/planeta/14995530910 shared

under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

Visual programming

• Scratch, Snap!, Tynker, etc.

• Scratch from MIT Media Laboratory• Papert’s group & Logo

• Puzzle piece format avoids syntax errors

• Supported by online community

• Millions of shared projects

Is history repeating?

• Logo foundered• Teacher skills limited potential of applications

• Creating digital solutions?

• Risk remains• What problems can limited coding solve?

• Scratch community may help

• Sophisticated projects offer ideas

• Useful code is complex – can teachers support it?

Neither rapture nor rejection is sane

• Rapture• Coding is the new literacy

• Multilingual or lingua franca?

• Critical literacy is needed to assess the claims

• Coding is key to future employment & prosperity

• Many workers in IT industries do not code

• Rejection• We have sufficient coders and don’t need more

• Too few teachers are prepared

• It’s all too hard

A sane response

• Falls between extremes• Society needs coders

• Coders need colleagues with other skills

• Visual design, process analysis, etc.

• Knowledge of coding, programming, computational thinking

• Enables understanding value & implications of code

• Recognising problems with digital solutions

• Understanding risks and benefits

• Second coming of coding• Depends on understanding value for all

flickr photo by smoothgroover22

https://flickr.com/photos/smoothgroover22/151

04006386 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-

SA) license

The value of coding

• Learned BASIC & other languages as hobbyist• Developed applications to support administration

• Taught IPT, Logo, HyperCard, etc.

• Occasional coder

• Residual value• Learning new applications

• Raising expectations about quality in systems

• Seeing potential digital solutions• Spreadsheets, macros, etc.

• Enhancing use of technologies

• Wing (2006) computational thinking • Universally applicable attitude and skill set

Digital natives & immigrants

• Digital natives & digital immigrants based on age (Prensky, 2001)

• Discredited view (Bennett et al., 2008)• Not necessarily age related

• Technologies change rapidly• We are all perpetual digital immigrants

• The digital natives are not coming to save usflickr photo by Minnesota Historical

Society

https://flickr.com/photos/minnesota

historicalsociety/5096894782 shared

under a Creative Commons (BY-SA)

license

Digital visitors, residents & renovators

• Alternative metaphor with choice (White & Le Cornu, 2011)• Visitors come with purpose and depart quickly

• Residents are comfortable and settled

• Builders create digital spaces (Jones, 2011)

• Renovators adapt digital spaces to suit

• We need some builders – engineers, programmers, coders

• Most of us need skills for renovation• Mere coding is not sufficient

• Computational thinking is fundamental to digital solutions

flickr photo by Steve Dorman

https://flickr.com/photos/60060337@N02/12245266863 shared under a

Creative Commons (BY-NC) license

Creating digital solutions

• Digital Technologies• NOT about making every child a programmer/coder

• Developing computational, design and systems thinking

• Creating digital solutions• Implies working with real problems & needs

• Requires teachers who create digital solutions

• Challenge• Assist teachers to become digital residents & renovators

• If not rapture, at least not rejection

flickr photo by palbion

https://flickr.com/photos/palbion/28946449805 shared

under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Peter.Albion@usq.edu.au