Coding seems to be the future, so why not teach it at the elementary level? The things kids can do on a computer today are pretty amazing. I like the idea of implementing some sort of coding into the curriculum around 4th-5th grade. As Hadi Partovi stated in his article, by the time students get to high school it may be too late.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/05/12/teaching-code-in-the-classroom/teach-coding-as-early-as-possible
I totally agree with Joe Vilson, who in his article stated that we do a disservice to kids by waiting until high school to give them an introductory look into coding. Having a skill in coding could mean the difference between some young people finishing school and dropping out, or between finding a minimum wage job and nailing down a lucrative one in technology.
Embrace technology and give our young children as much exposure to any aspect of coding so they have opportunities that may not have been available otherwise.
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Zachary Huey
5/29/2014 09:55:05 pm
I can see how some people would want an elementary student to learn coding, but I think other skills are more important. I agree that we should embrace technology, but I think we should spread it out and not give too much at once and not at such an early age.
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Cameron Stitt
5/29/2014 09:55:12 pm
I disagree on that thought, if kids have to learn technology before they "master" their own basic skills, then they might not be ready for high school in different ways. When you said 4th or 5th grade, I thought it was to early. Maybe if it was 7th or 8th grade then it would be better, but kids still have to learn other stuff than just technology.
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Alyssa Simpson
5/29/2014 10:04:02 pm
It is a good point that coding is the future, because it is. Technology is making strides everyday. However, I don't think coding can make a difference between dropping out and graduating or the type of job someone gets. Almost all of the time, kids change their minds about what they want to do when they grow up so teaching them to code so young could make them think they have to get a job when they are older that involves that. Sure, it could really help to get a job if you have coding skills but is it really worth it to get a job you may not enjoy even if its doing something you're good at?
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Alexis Grady
5/28/2014 10:09:03 pm
I personally think coding should be an option for all students. Coding and working with computers could be fun for some kids, but boring and difficult for others. Schools require classes like math and science because you need that information through your whole life, but with coding, you are not really going to need that. The world of technology is expanding every day, so we could need coding in our lives everyday in the future. Until then, I think coding should be an option and not a school requirement. I agree with Beverly Amico who says “the vast majority of computer-aided learning occurs in high school, students readily master computing and programming skills; more important, they graduate with the key capacities — independent thinking, collaboration, creativity and curiosity—that our future demands.” I do not think coding should be taught until a high school or college level. I think younger kids need to focus on core classes and get a knowledge of things with a great importance.
I don’t think coding should be required, but I think at least on computer class should be. High school students must know how to operate and use a computer for future reference. I think coding will expand and become huge in popularity in the future, but currently, that is not the case. Coding is popular to people working in the technology field and people familiar with computers, but other people could not care less. Until coding becomes a part of everyday life, which I believe it will, I don’t think students should be required to take a class in it.
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Carter
5/29/2014 09:47:49 pm
I agree the decision to learn programing should be based on the student's desire to code, not what the rest of the world thinks is best.
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Cameron Stitt
5/29/2014 09:48:08 pm
I agree that coding should be an option for the students weather it be in elementary school, or high school. But it shouldn't be forced on kids and required to move on to the next grade. Alexis, what grade do you think that coding could be an option for kids?
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Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 09:48:14 pm
Alexis,
You raise some strong points about not teaching coding at an early age. I think that it is true that they need to master basic skills first before they start worrying about coding. However, once they master these basic skills, should they have the option to experiment with coding? The idea of having it more like a CTE class (welding, woodshop, etc.) has a lot of support because like you stated some kids just may not be into computers and have no interest in them, but should we at least expose it to them early on and let them decide?
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Alexis Grady
5/29/2014 09:52:53 pm
Yes, I think having a technological CTE class that included coding would be a wonderful idea! I think kids should have the choice in late middle school and high school to decide if they want to take classes or pursue coding. I don't know about others, but I tend to get a little confused with some coding. I don't think it'd be particularly easy for late elementary, early middle school kids.
Jordan McKay
5/29/2014 09:48:49 pm
I agree totally with that it should be an OPTION, not a straight up choice not even made by the child themselves. Coding is definitely fun for some kids but other kids may struggle terribly with it. That's why it should be a type of an after school activity or a extra curriculum to earn more credits or college credits. but then again, it would be a good thing for children to learn new things to see what their types of hobbies will be when they get older.
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Cameron Stitt
5/28/2014 10:09:24 pm
I don’t think kids should have to learn coding at a young age. First, it would get in the way of the other core subjects such as math and science. Another thing is if they don’t understand it then they will stay at that level until they do understand it and that could be for a while.
If I had to choose an age for learning coding would be around 12 or 13. By this time most kids can already use a computer and be able to understand the whole process of coding and be able to keep up with all of their other classes.
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Alexis Grady
5/29/2014 09:42:56 pm
I completely agree. If we are add coding into the curriculum for elementary school, it could get in the way, or distract kids from learning more important things.
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Faisal Peracha
5/29/2014 09:45:03 pm
I agree that it is very important to learn other core subjects before just starting to code. I also agree at such a young age they might not understand a lot of the things they are learning. I think that when someone turns 12 years old it's a good time to start learning how to code.
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Alyssa Simpson
5/28/2014 10:09:56 pm
Coding is a bigger deal to some people than I ever imagined. I think coding should be taught in schools but it should not be a requirement or a replacement for foreign language credits. Every school should have to offer a class about coding but no students should be forced to take it, especially because some people couldn’t care less about it. I also think that these classes shouldn’t be offered until students are in high school. Elementary level kids have better things they need to be learning about and they don’t need to be spending time in front of a computer like John C. Dvorak said in his argument. (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/05/12/teaching-code-in-the-classroom/teaching-coding-to-kids-is-a-scam)
Yes, coding can be a great skill for people to have but a kid that’s 7 years old doesn’t need to learn this in elementary school when the same skills can be taught to them just a few years later, when it matters. Author Stacie Nevadomski Berdan made a good point in that studies show that kids that start learning a foreign language before they are 13 have a better chance of becoming proficient but coding does not work the same way so there is no point in teaching the skills so early. (http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/05/12/teaching-code-in-the-classroom/coding-cant-and-shouldnt-replace-foreign-language-requirements)
I think some professionals in technology and computers are taking coding way too seriously. Let small children learn what they want and need. They don’t need to be sat down in front of a computer for an hour a day to learn coding when they need to learn basic social skills and how to be a kid.
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Zachary Huey
5/29/2014 09:46:53 pm
I agree with you that coding shouldn't be taught at a younger age. I like what you said that kids just need to learn how to be a kid.
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Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 09:52:25 pm
Interesting point about comparing coding to a foreign language. Studies show that the sooner a child is exposed to a foreign language, the easier it is for him/her to pick up that language. I think most people beleive that must be true for most other things too, like coding. However, your article states that studies show this does NOT have the same effect on coding. Therefore, waiting until high school isn't that big of a deal.
Excellent point!
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Zachary Huey
5/28/2014 10:10:21 pm
I think that coding should be taught in school, but at a higher grade level. Coding goes beyond basic computer skills and can be difficult to catch on to. I think coding should be taught at a high school level as an elective, and shouldn’t take place of math, science, or any language course. You need coding to create technology, not to use it. Until coding becomes a basic computer skill and is required to use technology, it should stay as an elective course.
I agree with Beverly Amico the most on this subject. Coding can be important, but other skills should come first at a higher priority.
That's what I agree with also. I really don't want elementary childrens eyes glued to the screen. Although in school environments its for "learning" purpouses, that child will go home and play games all day. It happened to my sibling
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Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 09:55:51 pm
Great point here. I like how you said, " You need coding to create technology, not to use it." This is very true. Therefore, do you believe at the elementary level to just have them take a basic computer class to get them on the internet and show them how to email?
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Zachary Huey
5/29/2014 10:01:59 pm
Yes, a basic computer course should teach the student what is available on the computer and what they can access. Things like the internet, email, how to find files on the computer that they have saved should all be things that an elementary student can handle.
Jaret Keethler
5/28/2014 10:11:10 pm
Coding Debate
I think they should teach coding in some ways; we can’t force it among kids because there might be some who truly don’t want to learn it. I do think it is important to learn it because I believe that we as an upcoming generation should know behind the scenes of what we use in our daily life. I don’t want us to just use the internet and have no idea what’s happening or how it got like that, “understand what you use”. If kids are going to start learning this is should be in the 8th grade because if it was any early it could take away form things such as math or English and those are vital subject, at that age they really need to imprint math and English into their brains. “Understanding computer code is an important part of what makes us literate in today's technology.”-Becky Button
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Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 09:58:42 pm
I thought Zack made a good point earlier by saying you don't need to know coding to USE technology.
However, I like your quote as well, "I don’t want us to just use the internet and have no idea what’s happening or how it got like that, understand what you use.” That is pretty powerful. Don't just use it, but understand it!
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Faisal Peracha
5/28/2014 10:12:26 pm
I think that coding should be taught in school, but I don’t think it should be taught in elementary school. I think that children in elementary school should be focusing more on developing social skills instead of trying to learn computer programming. Computer programming is important but there are more important skills to learn at a young age. I think that there are other skills such as social skills that elementary students should be learning.
I think that schools should teach computer programming but not at such a young age, I think that children should start learning programming in 5th grade or when they are around 10 years old. I think that programming is a very useful skill, it helps develop other skills, and it encourages imagination, but I don’t think it should be taught at such a young age. I don’t think computer programming should be taught to children in elementary school, I think that schools should start to teach coding to 5th graders.
You stated that kids should be learning social skills at the elementary level and I couldn't agree more. Although technology is a huge part of today's society, socializing and interacting with others is even more important. Some people would rather interact behind a screen, but getting out there and honing social skills can go a long way for kids.
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Jordan McKay
5/28/2014 10:12:53 pm
Coding is a very cool feature of computers and technology but I am with Beverly Amico, other skills like core classes should come first and once they've figured those out they can look into whatever they'd like. School is already stressing enough for most children we don't need to be adding more stress and confusion.
"A child should be developing basic human skills. So called “computational thinking” is not one of them."
I'm totally agreeing with John C. Dvorak in this.
Coding isn't as important as most people it is, it doesn't teach kids how to balance a check book for the future, or buy a house, learning about useful things like that.
I totally agree that its stressful for most students, and that they need to focus on important classes. The for main ones, Math, English, History and Science.
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Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 10:04:13 pm
You stated, "School is already stressing enough for most children we don't need to be adding more stress and confusion."
I hear this all the time. The demands and expectations that are currently placed on students are at an all time high, so to compound that by adding more to their plate may be too much for them. Strong point.
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Diego Riley
5/28/2014 10:14:07 pm
Teach it as Early as Possible/The Third Language
In this article Hadi Partovi is founder and chief executive officer of Code.org, states that ‘To make computer science opportunities accessible to all students, we need to start in elementary school, where the playing field is still relatively level.’ I think that since Hadi Partovi is a chief and founder of code.org, of course he would want and agree about people or elementary to learn about coding. Personally I think that pushing it for the elementary kids, every year it gets harder the new generation of kids coming into school. Coding like what Lisette Titre a video game developer and an educational curriculum consultant said, is a third language so why force kids to learn a third language when they all righty have to learn a second language in high school.
I agree with what Lisette Titre said it does force kids to spell correctly and I do agree with Hadi Partovi building apps or games is far more engaging than arithmetic, yet these activities all teach the same concepts. Yet personally for third grade kids to be force to learn this is wrong, why make life and school harder when it’s all righty hard. I would recommend this during middle school, that’s sixth grade to eight grade and high school for advance coding.
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Albert Frond
5/29/2014 09:48:30 pm
Well it wouldn't be necessarily harder. If children were to be allowed to use computers in school, I'd imagine that there would be programs set up, all ready for them so they can't wander.
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jaret keethler
5/29/2014 09:57:07 pm
What as humans make things right or wrong? we invented the the society we live in today by setting rules to account one another,
"E=mc2" - Albert Einstein
Diego
5/29/2014 10:09:13 pm
True, I agree that it wouldn't be harder is children uses computer. I don't agree of making the coding class a class that you have to take. In elementary school, I think its a little to early. I could be wrong but I just voicing my opinion on the matter.
Oh thank you about the comment about not judging.
Jaret Keethler
5/29/2014 09:49:47 pm
Not true!! you are just wrong thats it...
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Albert Frond
5/29/2014 09:51:33 pm
But what is "wrong"? Who are we as human beings to judge another man's opinion? "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." -Thomas Jefferson
Diego
5/29/2014 10:12:22 pm
Wrong about what? what not true? Statement to vague.
Alexis Grady
5/29/2014 09:57:25 pm
I do agree that coding is a great opportunity for children wanting to go into computer sciences. I do not agree that it should be taught at a young age. If a child is not interested in computer sciences, do you think they should still try it out? I think it'd be cool if we had regular career classes, but a lot of kids don't really know what they want to be until Junior, Senior, or even their freshman year of college. Do you think we should have more career choice classes at younger ages?
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Diego
5/29/2014 10:17:21 pm
A career choice classes at a younger ages, I agree that most kids or young adult in high school don't know what they want to be. (Including myself) a career choice class at a young age, I don't really know. I mean its would benefit kids, give them an idea of what type of jobs are out there, so yeah I would agree for fifth grade up.
Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 10:07:35 pm
You said, "I think that since Hadi Partovi is a chief and founder of code.org, of course he would want and agree about people or elementary to learn about coding."
Great point here. Of course he wants kids learning code at an early age. He has his own website and has money to make off of this, so he is going to push coding as early as possible. Glad you picked that up.
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Albert Frond
5/28/2014 10:19:24 pm
I do think coding should be taught in schools. Going down the technological career path is an option nowadays and people need to prepare themselves for it. You can’t expect to be the best of the best and start coding in college. I do however believe kids should start learning this in middle school. Starting any age younger would hinder you from learning social skills which are by far more important than computer skills. I think everyone should know how to work Excel and Word. So that should be mandatory as most jobs take their info online now. It should be a mandatory class for a semester or two but after that let the kids choose whether they want to take it or not. I think it should count for Science credit as it has nothing to do with numbers. Science is the study of things and therefore if we study coding it’s a type of science. The main reason I don't think toddlers should be using computers is because my sister got hooked. Now its all she does. She doesn't "study" or "learn". She plays minecraft...
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Jordan McKay
5/29/2014 09:43:45 pm
Completely agree with the fact that people should let the children choose if they want to take it as a class or not, and they don't just make them do it when they could be working on something that could help them way more in their future.
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Alyssa Simpson
5/29/2014 09:45:22 pm
I totally agree that people should be able to decide if they go down a technological career path or not and that other things besides coding should be taught in computer classes, like Word and Excel.
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Jaret Keethler
5/29/2014 09:47:38 pm
I believe what you said and and agree with you! teaching it to early could take away math or English as examples of the basics they should be learning first!
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Faisal Peracha
5/29/2014 09:58:50 pm
I think it is important to teach coding in school, but I think that children need to learn basic skills first. I disagree, I think that schools should teach coding, but not to kids under 12. I think that kids 12 over should be given the opportunity to choose if they want to learn how to code. When do you think is a good age to start learning to code?
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Faisal Peracha
5/29/2014 10:10:51 pm
I'm confused it isn't even 8:19 am yet...
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Faisal Peracha
5/29/2014 10:12:11 pm
Never mind
Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 10:12:31 pm
Bert,
Minecraft is addicting, so I hear. However, are you saying exposing here to this game was a bad thing? Does she not play and run around outside because of this game? Maybe this game will make her someday want to look deeper into this and see how this game came to be.
I have a 2 year old that can get around on an iPad like it's no big deal.
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Carter Rice
5/29/2014 09:38:35 pm
I mostly agree with the not teaching it early in school, but at times it may seem that I contradict myself and that is because I agree with both sides to an extent. While reading all of the writers for teaching coding in school early on have the same basic point. These are as listed, they can handle it, and it opens doors. While all of these are true statement they do not apply the same to a younger age as it would a high school student.
First of I will be countering the argument that they can handle it. Yes this is true they can handle, but this in no way means we should teach it. I’m sure a third grader can grasp the concept that the letter ‘X’ can represent an unknown number in a problem like 2+x=4, but we don’t teach algebra in third grade. Then the question of whether or not they will retain the knowledge. I know for a fact that I did not remember any of the grammar taught in my elementary years. In fifth grade I was taught all about Earth science, then in eight grade it was retaught to us and even though I could handle the concept and the knowledge in fifth grade I could not retain it. Now here I am in tenth grade relearning earth science again. Even though I was able to understand tectonic plates, volcanoes, and fault boundaries does not mean I retained it and will ever use it.
Yes is if very true that coding opens doors for new opportunities, for those who are interested. Teaching coding in the younger grades of schools is like having a career day and forcing every kid to write about seeing themselves in the jobs show on the day. Saying coding is for everyone is incorrect. Forcing kids to learn a specific trait is not what the younger years of school is for. Coding is not a fundamental for life so I don’t think it should be taught at such a young age.
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Zachary Huey
5/29/2014 10:09:05 pm
I agree with what you said that we shouldn't force students to learn it at younger age. If you learn something your not interested in you will forget it. Coding is not a life skill and therefore it should remain a choice to the student.
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Mr. Reaume
5/29/2014 10:16:08 pm
Carter,
Strong points on both sides are raised. I like your statement, " Coding is not a fundamental for life so I don’t think it should be taught at such a young age." So let kids be kids and do kid things? Then if they decide this is something they are interested in, to pursue it further?
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