games-based-learning and g-Learning blog: Part 1: Why is Teaching Children to Program so Important?

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Part 1: Why is Teaching Children to Program so Important?

This post is the first in a series of several blog posts about teaching children to program. The first few posts will discuss why it is important, how it can help children get ready for the future (is it an easy way to get a job?) and what skills it can impart. I'll then give you some ideas about how you can make a start and tell you how other people are teaching children to program. I will also discuss how it can be an excellent way to introduce Project Based Learning (PBL) - see our post '10 Benefits of Project Based Learning (PBL)'. Stay tuned, this post is a bit of a teaser and a short introduction to the posts over the next few weeks.

Image coutesy of Fort Meade on Flickr.

The ability to program has the potential to become another essential 21st century skill that children are said to need to have a successful career in today’s world. Along with being a 21st century skill in itself, learning to program also imparts other 21st century skills in learners such as systems thinking, logic and problem solving. To learn more about 21st century skills see our post, '21st Century Skills and Games Based Learning'.

Developer and mentor to aspiring programmers Joe O’Brien believes that programming skills are important even in non-technical jobs. "Not that we want everyone to go out and create Web programs and write the next Twitter, but I think having a base understanding of what happens behind the curtain can be huge,” he said. “Even if a CEO never codes for her company, just understanding what is happening is going to be huge for her from a risk standpoint, from an understanding standpoint,” he added. “CEOs need to have a lot of knowledge of a lot of different things and programming is a large part of that.”

According to Maurya Couvares, co-founder of ScriptEd, “Coding will be the key to innovation in the future but many students, but especially low-income students, aren’t exposed to it.” Bill Gates, Google’s Eric Schmidt and Meg Whitman from Hewlett-Packard along with other tech icons agree. They have developed Code.org, a non-profit producer of programming videos. They firmly believe that coding, programming and computer science will be the language of the 21st century. Code.org’s Hadi Partovi argues, "In a world that's increasingly run on technology, computer science is a liberal art that every student should be exposed to, regardless of their path in life.”

That is why teaching to children to program could be so important. Check back soon for our article 'Learning to Program: An Easy Way to Get a Job?' The links below will become active as the posts are uploaded.

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