Although I missed the guest speaker presentation on Scratch programming and coding, I was fortunate enough to teach a Scratch lesson during my experiential practicum. Luckily, my coaching teacher used Scratch relatively once a week with her students so they could practice their coding skills with interactive stories, games and animations (Scratch). I immediately recognized the friendly yellow cat because Scratch was a program that I had been introduced to in grade 7 in my hometown elementary school. The Scratch lesson I chose to teach was a music lesson. Students could choose different instruments and sequences of said instruments to create a song. The number of choices and opportunities for producing music were endless. I had students who were mimicking current songs they enjoyed, and those who were producing original melodies. Students were then expected to post their creation to the group page and comment on the work of two other students. I spent little time on instruction because the students were already so intuitive with the program and with computer coding in general. It was more of a learning opportunity for me than for the students!

I think it is really important to teach these engaging and creative coding lessons to kids because so many careers these days involve design and technology. The B.C. curriculum has had a large shift towards teaching students how to adapt to a digital world, largely through Applied Design, Skills and Technology (ADST). It is important that what students are learning in the classroom will still be relevant skills they can use in life to help achieve a career. It is already apparent that many ‘good jobs’ present today will become automated or devalued in the years to come (Satell). A study conducted at the University of Oxford actually found that “47 percent of today’s jobs will be eliminated over the next 20 years” (Satell). So, is allowing students the time and resources to familiarize themselves with computers and coding at a young age in the classroom significant? Absolutely! By doing so, we are preparing students for the world to come. It is more relevant to teach kids how to ‘create’ with technology because there are so many unknowns that experts are still trying to discover. A platform like Scratch fosters this creativity. I encourage other teachers to try it out today and see what their students are capable of. You may be surprised and learn one or two things yourself. 

Sources

Applied Design, Skills and Technologies. (n.d.). B.C’s Curriculum. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/adst

Scratch. (n.d.). Scratch- Imagine, Program, Share. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://scratch.mit.edu/

Satell, Greg. (2018, October 13). These are the Skills That Your Kids Will Need for the Future (Hint: It’s Not Coding). Inc. https://www.inc.com/greg-satell/here-are-skills-that-your-kids-will-need-for-future-hint-its-not-coding.html