School students are now being asked to code. Coding is a process that builds the creative potential of students and improves their observation skills. Students are exposed to a logical way of thinking through coding, and their mistakes make them discover new ways of solving a problem. Coding will help in understanding the ‘making and building’ process better and letting their ideas to turn into reality. This ultimately creates a new generation of STEM-entrepreneurs.
Coding in STEM Education
The process of using a programming language to get a computer to behave how you want it to is termed as Coding. Programming is used to tell a computer what to do, but understanding computer science would not be possible without science, technology, engineering and math. So how exactly coding is linked to all STEM disciplines? Why STEM programmes are increasingly using more programming courses in their curriculum has got many reasons. Coding has become so relevant in life and natural sciences that there would be no pioneers in engineering & robotics without programming skills.
How to implement coding activities in STEM classes?
There are serious challenges to implementing coding activities in STEM classes.
- To set up coding for school programmes many schools find themselves ill-equipped and they cite reasons such as insufficient human capital, out-of-date equipment, and high-speed internet issues.
- It can be challenging to set up effective coding programs at schools, considering issues such as curriculum selection, staffing, professional development, and funding.
- To provide the level of rigour needed to support high-quality computer programming courses, trained engineers with coding backgrounds are needed. But the basic fundamental issue is, it is difficult to find skilled engineers in teaching.
So how schools can overcome these challenges?
- To overcome these shortcomings schools can collaborate with any of the Professional Learning Partner programmes which can help to bring trainers to work with school staff. It is very important for teachers to learn these skills and understand technology.
- Some of the schools are interested to offer a higher level of coding education, such as using real languages, professional tools, and experienced engineers to deliver the content. For this, schools can collaborate with local coding academies that will set up programs at school.
- There is also a less expensive option available such as to use online academies that will provide self-paced online curricula.
Teachers regardless of the subject they teach are encouraged to incorporate coding in their lessons.