11 Reasons Why Schools Add Coding to Their Curriculum (And How Teachers Can Start)

Many school districts have shifted towards preparing their students for STEAM-related jobs by including coding as part of their curriculum. Many teachers, parents, and stakeholders have witnessed an increase in career prospects in the sciences, technology, and engineering.

What’s more, the entrepreneurial spirit and the excitement of innovation have taken hold of the next generation of business leaders. With this trend in mind, let’s explore the reasons why schools are adding coding to their curriculum. Plus, we have tips to get started in the classroom.

Why Coding?

Coding provides the building blocks for apps, computer programs, mechanisms—just about everything we use to increase efficiency in our daily lives. So, it’s no wonder teachers are now creating lessons on coding into their classroom routines.

Educators Can Teach Coding at Any Grade Level

For starters, teachers can address coding at almost all ages. Because this skill involves learning a whole other “language,” introducing kids to coding at a young age presents more chances at excelling as they get older. Their success would stem from gaining a solid foundation in sequencing and problem-solving skills starting in kindergarten or even in pre-k.

Even still, teachers can add coding lessons at higher grade levels even if students have never participated in activities related to computer programming before. By creating lessons that peak students’ curiosity and creativity, students will reap the benefits of learning how to code.

Coding Relates to Multiple Subjects

Just as coding can be implemented at all grade levels, it can also relate to various content areas. When you think of coding, math or computer science might come to mind. However, your lessons in ELA, geography, art, music, etc. can involve coding too.

For instance, students can learn to code for the purpose of creating animated graphics for a science or history presentation. In another scenario, they can collaborate on a game that involves the elements and characters from a novel they’ve read. This sort of project would involve analyzing and evaluating cause-and-effect relationships, themes, and characterization. In short, there are few (if any) limits to the lessons in coding that a grade level team of teachers can create.

Coding Activities Promote Problem-Solving Skills

Another reason relates to how this activity facilitates problem-solving skills. In fact, the instructional process itself involves the teacher modeling the very act of finding solutions. By demonstrating the coding process, even through trial and error, the teacher passes on vital lessons in perseverance and ingenuity.

Moreover, the students gain valuable practice by solving the problems that occur when a series of commands doesn’t work. They must then backtrack, debug, refine, and finally test their theories. What better way to learn real-world skills than by practicing in the classroom?

Coding Involves Critical Thinking

Along with problem-solving skills, another reason for coding is the critical thinking that’s involved.

Students have to form hypotheses and make judgement calls as they learn coding-related procedures. Each step and each command that the students code requires a deep analysis of how a program work

Once a code is completed, students then have the chance to evaluate their own work and determine if and how the program can be improved. By going down the path of debugging a program and refining it, students can see in real time how to make sound decisions based on actual data and observations.

Students Acquire Transferrable Skills

Coding also provides a pathway to learn and apply other qualities that set students up for success in any field, which is why schools are taking another look at this practice.

By participating in group or independent learning activities that involve coding, students pick up the traits of:

• Resilience
• Patience
• Attention to detail
• Communication

These qualities pertain, not just to the tech field, but also to other jobs as well.

Coding Encourages Collaboration

One more reason for schools to add coding entails the value of cooperative learning.

As you can see from the broad spectrum of skills mentioned, coding promotes the spirit of collaboration among the students. Whether the students are building an app or programing a robot, they benefit from working in teams.

This situation enables students to help each other with complex computation tasks. From there, they learn from each other’s insights, trials, and yes, even the mistakes. So, if they encounter issues with their project, they will learn to overcome these obstacles by sharing ideas.

Coding Instruction Accommodates Multiple Learning Styles

On the other hand, some teachers might wonder if coding is more of a left or right-brain activity. Others may question whether kinesthetic learners would stay engaged in coding projects. Nonetheless, instruction in coding pulls in students from multiple learning styles and interests.

The key to effective planning involves coding for a variety of purposes. For instance, you can teach students to code as a means of composing music. Or you can reach those who prefer hands-on learning by allowing them to construct and program robotic devices that perform helpful tasks. And of course, any lesson that involves coding will include visual aids as a quick reference for all students while they complete their projects.

Coding Experience Can Open Doors to Career Opportunities

Furthermore, instructors recognize that coding opens doors to a vast number of job prospects for students in the future. Thus, entire schools are providing more opportunities implementing coding in the classroom.

A Well-Rounded STEAM Curriculum Includes Coding

Likewise, any curriculum that addresses real-world applications of science and math will include coding. Considering how coding makes up a vital part of innovation, you’ll find more resources that help teachers to integrate this skill into their lesson planning.

Learning to Code Equips the Next Generation of Innovators

Furthermore, you’ll at least see more high schools implementing coding into their curriculum.

Coding proves to be a fundamental skill for high school students who are planning their entry into STEAM-related careers. Even with the rise of AI and automation, these youngsters know that humans still make up a vital component in the innovation of the latest programs or devices.

Hence, learning how to code offers an advantage for the next generation of innovators entrepreneurs.

Your School District is Moving in that Direction.

Finally, don’t be surprised if your school or your entire district is shifting toward STEAM instruction. Although you may not live in the heart of Silicon Valley, you can expect an increasing number of schools to implement some form of coding instruction into their classrooms.

School districts are watching the ever-changing trends in STEAM career pathways. Given the high demand for qualified candidates, many district officials are giving the go-ahead to expand math and science curricula to include instruction in coding.

How to Start Coding in Your Classroom

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a science or math teacher to start creating lessons in coding that’ll engage your students. Plus, resources and information are more readily available now than ever before. Here are a few suggestions to start you on the road toward teaching coding.

Gain Buy-In from Administration, Parents, and Stakeholders

If your school and/or district have not already updated their curricula to include more STEAM-related content, then you might need to do some convincing. Since most administrators have concerns about cost, you might explore various workshops, possible sources for classroom equipment, and software subscriptions. Also, presenting an example lesson, if possible, might help steer their favor in your direction.

Parents, on the other hand, may prove to be your biggest advocate for the implementation of coding in their children’s classroom. So, consider including information about your new lessons on coding and how these learning activities would set up their students for future success.

Finally, don’t forget the other stakeholders in your district. Businesses, area colleges or tech schools and organizations might offer valuable information about getting started with coding, with even a few individuals offering assistance with grant-writing and donations of equipment.

Seek Out Professional Development Opportunities

Researching professional development opportunities will also give you valuable insights and instructional resources. Events and workshops that are geared toward coding instruction provide a great start for teachers who are embarking on this journey. In addition to the hands-on training, some in-services provide materials, lesson plans, and other resources that you can tailor to your students’ needs. Any time you get a chance to network with other teachers and with professionals in the STEAM field, you’ll come away with a plethora of projects and ideas that’ll enhance your coding instruction.

Gauge Your Students’ Interests

Another step towards coding instruction is taking stock in your students’ interests and learning styles. Some of your pupils may prefer listening to a presentation while others may want flow charts and graphics to prompt them along. And you’ll always have that segment of your class who would much rather act out the story or take on a hands-on approach to a new concept. All these factors determine the type of instruction that will effectively reach all your learners.

Along with determining instructional strategies, students’ interests and learning styles might affect their preferences in coding languages. (More on that later!)

In turn, this factor will help you with creating projects that will motivate students. Do they want to design attention-getting websites with imbedded video? Would they rather create their own musical compositions or digital media for a visual take on a book report or research presentation? Taking the time to answer these questions is a vital, yet fun part of curriculum mapping and lesson planning.

Start with the Basics

Chances are you might have to start from the beginning as you start to teach students how to code. For your youngest learners, block-based coding is the best route since its drag-and-drop feature allows for students to manipulate basic commands. Plus, the visual aspect helps students to grasp the concepts of sequencing, loops, direction, and procedures.

For older students, you might incorporate lessons on digital literacy to coincide with mathematical concepts and the basics in text-based coding.

One important tip to remember is to avoid fixating on just one language. Each coding language lends itself to one set of purposes more than others. For instance, JavaScript works well for developing games while HTML presents the go-to for building websites.

Set up the Classroom to Facilitate Coding Instruction and Practice

Another way to get started is to set up a learning station for collaborative activities, another for large-group instruction, and visuals that facilitate coding instruction. Charts with commonly used programming characters and terms make for quick and easy references for students. Also, a “word wall” containing vocabulary related to a specific lesson or unit is helpful.

Invite Guest Presenters

And don’t forget to include the professionals from the STEAM field. Guest presenters show students how coding works in a variety of situations. Their insight and experience with coding (and math, for that matter) proves to be valuable information that answers the questions many a child or teen has asked, “What does this have to do with life?” “Where am I ever going to use this?”

When students find out where coding fits into their daily lives, they’re more likely to engage in class exercises.

Partner with the Community to Gain Learning Opportunities

Along with inviting guest speakers, your school can also partner with businesses and organizations that utilize coding or promote its instruction.

This collaboration could lead to field trips for grade levels who are old to enough to participate. Tours and onsite presentations also give students a closer look at how coding and its related concepts are applied in real-world situations.

Visit the Nearest Post-secondary Locale.

An additional resource is your nearest college, university, or technical school. Often, these post-secondary institutions offer more sources of information related to professional development in the STEAM content areas. Likewise, their students might provide additional learning support in the form of tutoring or conducting departmental tours for older elementary or secondary students.

Being that it’s never too early to think about their future plans, students can also see different STEAM-related classes and labs. Like all other field trips, this gives students another opportunity to see coding in action in more advanced learning situations.

As you can see, both public and private schools have many reasons for making curricular changes to include coding. Going beyond just an educational fad, administrators and teachers have kept their thumbs on the pulse career readiness. Thus, teaching kids how to code as a means of giving them an advantage in their next steps after graduation only makes sense. Such is the case in today’s digital world that requires more innovators and researchers.eMonkey cover?

Codemonkey offers a game-based approach to learning CoffeeScript and Python, which are widely used for web apps and modern software. These real coding languages teach kids everything they need to know about coding so they can move on to more complex languages as they develop. 

Find out more about how your kids can get excellent educational advantages from learning to code.