Coding, Integrated: Shape & Scratch

It won't come as a surprise to discover that there is a lot of talk these days about coding, and to hear the calls in panicked tones from some quarters, parents are often curious to know if or when we intend to drop everything and add this new subject (it's not really new, it was called Control and taught in IT lessons in labs in the 1980s) to the curriculum. This request is generally completely oblivious of the logistical nightmare that attempting to restructure the school day to find time for another subject would be. Understandably this answer doesn't necessarily satisfy parents especially if they have had difficulties getting a space for children to attend one of the Coding ECAs I facilitate, or more often by parents who are unable to get a place in the activity for their child.

I'm an advocate for coding, but not to prepare kids for a new 21st 'literacy' of programming, as I explain in this post, I think this is a myth; I'm not the only one. So I don't think, like TTS and the UK, that we should be trying to teach it as a discrete subject.

That said, I can see how it makes sense to enrich our curriculum where it makes sense using coding experiences, you can see an example of that from this week in Grade 4 here and here, we have lots of others. I am working with our Primary School Maths Coach to explore opportunities to do more of this within Maths, as that is the subject where the opportunities are most likely/authentic.

Coding Polygons in Grade 4

Coding Coordinates in Grade 5

Ultimately, I don't see coding as any more essential a tech skill than, say video editing, or working with spreadsheets which are also important tech skills that we try to integrate naturally into the curriculum. As with all of these, I'd like to see authentic opportunities to code every year, throughout the college from K-12, and hopefully one day we will!


Until then, we are working hard to provide many opportunities for coding (far more than for video editing or spreadsheets!) as part of the Activities programme, and there are also a host of opportunities being organised by the Ideas Hub, coming very soon. Melanie Tan (melanieuwc@uwcsea.edu.sg) has more details about opportunities to participate in coding activities for all ages if you're interested.