The days of the 3-Rs are over. The school bell has had its final ring. Many institutions are now exploring the new literacies that complement the digital age we are immersed into – and describing the different competencies that learners and citizens need to effectively operate in today’s environments. As adults we need to be technologically adaptable, be able to judge the quality of information (ethics), we need to be able to manage new networks of relationships, understand privacy and piracy, be able to play and explore to learn, deal with multiple personality constructs, construct searches for information, and perhaps, should we all be able to create solutions for our lives through the building blocks of programming?
Being a father of a three year old who has just started nursery school I’ve been thinking a great deal about how her language development has suddenly taken a leap. Every day, she is structuring more complex ideas into longer, wordier sentences; she is role playing and articulating not just her needs, but also integrating her feelings, memories and imagination. It’s a beautiful thing to be around. At her age, she is naturally an expert learner. Everything and every moment can be turned into a world of fascinating enquiry. She is also loves to make things: drawings, models, dens, things to eat – sometimes directed by us as parents, most often however following her own schema of the moment. Wrapping things up is her current schema – inside / outside… surprise! Layers, presents… all sorts of manipulations and materials to be learned about and explored.
I don’t know a lot about computer programming. Very little actually. Even the term ‘programming’ doesn’t seem right. People talk about coding a lot now. For me it feels like the active space between intention and experience… just as talking or writing is the vehicle between idea and idea communicated. It is something that increases to be relevant as a skill? Maybe I’m being over simplistic, however to see how a little mind is constantly making connections between survival and language, there is a corner of me that is asking why we don’t integrate first steps of computer programming into a child’s appreciation of language and intention.
Skills wise, my daughter can switch on and use an Ipad, phone or Nintendo 3ds.. and play without my support. She can navigate, find programmes or applications she likes, change games cartridges, take pictures, use a tiny stylus and joystick. Much of this is naturally being a 3 year old problem solver, using/trying out patterns and exercising memory.. ‘what ifs’ ‘over and over’ ‘return to’ .. leading to a result. It becomes more intentional and determined once her skills are developed.. like finding the particular aspect of a Peppa Pig’s game that she gets most reward for playing, or iplayer to watch ‘Gigglebiz’. However I increasingly feel that just as she can learn basic motor skills and logical processes, she can also learn how to apply her imagination to creating something – something more complex – just as she does through role playing (we went to France in a multitude of vehicles the other day, ate food on the way, said things in French, looked after each other, went into the sky (1..2..3.. BLASTOFF!) and watched clouds from above – I was the passenger, she led the play all the way).
So – my questions: how can we enable children to learn and understand the basic principles behind computer programming, just as we naturally do (or not!) with speech and behaviour? What would this look like for a child of 3, 4 or 5 – what kind of play and exploration? How do young people and adults learn and understand it? What would be the benefits of this to both child and society?
I’d like to explore these questions more with other people…
Sycamore Learning 