Why computer programming is about more than perfect code
i was lucky enough to be given the
opportunity
to run a scratch day which is a coding
event run every may
i was quite pleased because we had a
good turnout and the kids were really
keen
some had travelled quite far to be there
and so it was really pleasing to see how
happy they were
however it was during the break that
barry’s parents came up to me
and related to me that this was the
first time barra
had ever wanted to go to any event and
furthermore
it was the first time he had ever agreed
to speak in front of people
they thanked me profusely and said that
they wished all schools could offer
coding
because he was bullied incredibly
introverted
and it was the only thing that he loved
and through coding
he’d found friends and a purpose
it’s this escapism that speaks to me
when i was a kid i was in that horrible
situation
where i was bottom of the class not only
was i being bullied by the kids
but also the teachers were completely
against me
in fact on one occasion the bullies
bashed my head against the school
building
and then i was told off for playing
dangerous games and punished again by
the teachers
in hindsight i’m pretty sure that
programming and video games
got me through my toughest days
i’m sure many teachers create classrooms
that are sanctuaries for their students
the kind of classroom where students
want to be
computers and coding almost provide an
extra layer to that
because when students are fully engaged
it becomes its own little world where
students have godlike powers to shape
that world
however for students to find their bliss
in this world there is a world’s climb
the joy of coding is that it is a fully
consistent world
you get the same result every time but
it is a world where an extra bracket
isn’t glanced over but will stop the
program in its tracks
this challenge brings great joy when you
finally debug that code
but also great frustration when you
can’t find that error
teachers run the risk of making the
steps so small that it’s like drip
feeding
with no joy of problem solving or create
mountains so steep
that they feel like everest making a
state of flow
is the holy grail for every computing
teacher
the paybacks for learning coding only
start with escapism
the more i thought about it the more i
realized just how many of my students
are coming out of their
shells thanks to coding just recently i
saw a student who was incredibly shy
not just speak to other students but go
across the city to lead a coding team
another shy student wanted to help the
rohingya refugees
and realize that even basic computing
skills might help
and so we set up an after school club
for them
the other less tangible benefit is that
coders are problem solvers
these are the people that thrive on a
challenge and love to solve problems in
innovative ways
for example my students are now using
raspberry pi’s and some co2
sensors to try and solve the problem of
predicting pollution across kuala lumpur
so the schools can judge when outdoor
activities might need to be stopped
and give pe teachers advanced warning
if students do become empowered then a
challenge becomes an
opportunity to perform way beyond your
expectations
my code club i showed a trailer for the
maze runner
it’s a film where every night the maze
changes and they send runners out to try
and solve it
i thought it was a cute introduction for
my coding club to make mazes
and thought it would be you know a nice
way for them to have a go
what i didn’t bargain for was that one
of my year 9s would take this completely
literally
and make a maze that changed every
single time
you ran it let’s be honest none of the
other coders could solve this challenge
i even put it out to the teachers in
southeast asia i got
nothing back however it was a seemingly
impossible challenge
i had to solve it right bliss
you