It's hard to imagine a single career that doesn't have a need for someone who can code. Everything that "just works" has some type of code that makes it run. Coding (a.k.a. programming) is all around us. That's why all the cool kids are coding . . . or should be. Programming is not just the province of pale twenty-somethings in skinny jeans, hunched over three monitors, swigging Red Bull. Not any more! The newest pint-sized coders have just begun elementary school.
If you're concerned that that a) elementary school students don't have the ability to code, b) there's no room in the curriculum, and c) you don't possess coding chops to teach programming skills, throw out those worries. The following sites and apps can help anyone who has basic reading skills grasp the basics of thinking and planning in order to make things happen (the whole purpose of coding) and create applications: interactive games, quizzes, animations, etc. Best of all, many of these tools are free, or almost free, and require no coding background or expertise!
We love Move the Turtle, a gamified way to learn programming procedures. The main character reminds us of the old Logo turtle used to teach kids computer programming during the reign of the Apple IIe. Each new level of achievement increases in difficulty and teaches a new command that directs the turtle to reach a star, make a sound, draw a line, etc. A free play "compose" mode lets students move the turtle however they want.
We hope these descriptions have whetted your appetite and that you'll incorporate coding into your curriculum. Even if a student never intends to pursue programming as a career, learning to code will still foster problem-solving skills, spark creativity and enhance logical thinking. Code.org, a pro-coding education nonprofit, features dozens of quotations about computer programming from famous and important people who believe that coding should be part of the core curriculum for every child. One of our favorite quotes is by Maria Klawe, a computer programmer and inventor who says, "Coding is today's language of creativity. All our children deserve a chance to become creators instead of consumers of computer science [emphasis added]."
How have you brought coding into your classroom? Do you have any resources to share?