Coding? - or preparing our kids for the their future?

This past week has been the "Hour of Code" week where schools throughout the US and across the world are getting children, from Kindergarten through grade 12, involved in creating computer programs.

Why should we teach code?

Well, just as we teach our children to read and write so that they can participate in society, we should teach them the logical building blocks that they will need to be CREATORS in the world that they are living in.  This means being able to create on the ubiquitous digital devices that are found in just about every home and school.

Back in the early 80's when I started working in Computer Science, my colleagues and I envisioned a world similar to the StarTrek and Star Wars universes where everyone knew how to not only USE the technology around them, but how to CREATE with that technology. The "Digital Natives" - the children who have grown up in a world that has always had the Internet - were "magically" expected to be able to create without ever being taught how.  It was supposed to be absorbed into their very nature - like osmosis or something. Boy, were we wrong.

Well, I am happy to say that, at least with the schools that I am involved with, we are now starting to teach our students how to become CREATORS as well as CONSUMERS. Yes, many of the high school age "digital natives" are still primarily consumers, but more and more are learning how to create - and a great, fun way to teach this skill is through coding.

While the basics of writing code are the same as when I learned HEX, COBOL and FORTRAN, the language part has become so much easier.  Even the output has become much more fun.  My 9 year old son has, through self-driven learning, created games on the GamePress platform.  All from watching videos, on-line help and a lot of hands-on experimentation.

So, how do we get our kids interested in coding?

Catherine Davis, the Technology Director at Pilgrim School (@CatlynnDavis) sent me a link to a amazing coding product for younger kids. It is called bitsbox and here is a video on what their product is:  http://youtu.be/BxtaxA_AhmE   (For the schools in France and Israel, we should translate this into French and Hebrew!!)  It is, I believe, a fantastic way to get our kids to become creators - Look out Star Trek, here we come!!

(P.S. to this blog entry.  The delivery of the bitsbox reminds me of my wife Batsheva and her LaunchBox project.  http://youtu.be/VVUF6PE9ztQ   What do you think?)

Yossie Frankel
Director - Consortium for Information and Academic Technologies
Member Schools:
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy - yfrankel@hillelhebrew.org
Oakland Hebrew Day School - y.frankel@ohds.org
Shalhevet High School - y.frankel@shalhevet.org
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