The world of today runs on code. The apps you use, the gadgets in your hand and even the trains and planes you travel in need code to work. Coding is a process which uses logic to achieve a goal. This is the skill which has brought around the digital revolution and which will shape our future as well. So how can one teach coding to the ones who will do the shaping?
Coding, by definition, is writing code to do some task. This requires creating a correct order of steps to do and then writing them in a format which is understood by the computer. It is difficult for a child to train their minds to think in this ordered way and deal with intricacies of the programming language. To directly push someone into this mindset and expect them to be able to code is unintelligent. However, there is an art which comes naturally to everyone and is more prominent among the young ones; storytelling.
Our memories are stored in form of stories, we communicate with each other using them and we even go to them to entertain ourselves. We are nothing but stories.
I teach a 6-year-old kid named Viryavaan about gadgets and how to make them. I tried to teach him programming using the traditional approach initially; making algorithms and flowcharts, giving him an instruction set and then telling him the rules of syntax. This approach had generally worked well in my experience with students above the age of 12 but wasn’t giving the desired results with him. Hence, I decided to change my approach to suit the liking of Viryavaan who has a natural creative nature.
I asked him to decide upon the characters and write the script of a story. He made up a story of a dinosaur who lives alone on top of a snowy mountain. One day the dinosaur starts to feel very cold and is visited by a flying dragon. The dinosaur asks the dragon for help and in return the dragon uses it’s flames to give him heat. The dragon and the dinosaur then have babies.
We then proceeded to program this story using Scratch. Scratch is a programming environment made for kids which uses an interface based on drag and drop commands rather than textual commands simplifying the process of coding. It also allows to program such cartoons and make them move, say dialogues and emit sounds.
While making this story, Viryavaan learned and used many important concepts. He used the coordinate system to position and move the characters on screen. He used loops to repetitively emit certain sounds. He kept a track of time so as to time the dialogues of different characters perfectly.
Most importantly, he learnt how to make a correct order of instructions to achieve the desired result, which is essentially programming. He enjoyed programming the story and didn’t even realize that in the process he had created his first code.
Apr 3, 2017
Every month, imfundo will highlight a maker who has created important and interesting gadgets.
Mar 06, 2017
