by PRP Group, on 01/30/2023
Coding is so much more than technical problem-solving or a career pathway. It’s a creative process that, just like language, allows practitioners to explore new ways of thinking and expressing themselves.
As Marina Bers, a pioneer in children’s technology education, has observed: Teachers don’t need to turn every child into a programmer any more than they need to turn every child into a novelist. Rather, they should teach children to code for the same reasons they teach them to write: it gives them fluency in a new kind of expression.
Students are ready to begin learning about coding at the same time they are ready to begin learning to read and write any other language—including the natural languages they’ve been learning to speak their whole lives. In fact, literacy and coding can be taught side-by-side to reinforce concepts such as grammar and syntax, representation, and eventually, expression across both disciplines.