In 2014, Cedar Primary School became one of the pilot schools to step foot into the uncharted territory of computer programming for primary school pupils which was then known as “Fun with Coding”.
“Fun with Coding” essentially exposes pupils to the world of basic computer coding through the use of Scratch, a visual programming authoring tool. The vibrant interface of Scratch coupled with friendly drag-and-drop controls provides an enriching and inviting introduction for young children into the potentially daunting world of computer programming.
Through a weekly 60-minute session that runs for a total of 8 weeks, the primary 4 and 5 pupils learnt important strategies used for solving problems and formulating solutions in the domain of computational thinking.
Pupils need to use their analytical thinking together with their arsenal of tools ranging from simple animation to the complex use of conditional statements that eventually led them to design a solution to tackle the problems – such as making a perfectly running game much tougher or designing an app that makes everyday choices for the users etc. With the teacher acting as a facilitator, the pupils are highly encouraged to be independent learners and to persevere in the debugging process while trying different ways to approaching problems.
The lesson design also takes into consideration the uniqueness of each individual and their different learning pace. When pupils complete their tasks, they would be given additional tougher challenges where more variables are involved and less guidance is provided. With this differentiated approach, most, if not all, pupils can enjoy a rewarding coding experience and are also spurred on by their peers’ achievements.
With the knowledge acquired for coding, pupils also advocate cyber wellness values via the creation of the games using the codes. An example would be creating a short story with character dialogues that teach the pupils on how to behave properly on the Internet.
One of the greatest challenges in the implementation of the programme is to find the time and space to fit it inside the already packed curriculum. The school has effectively used the total curriculum to develop pupils in the learning of coding.
With the teachers as the facilitators and ICT executive as the trainer, the ICT Department has mapped out the development plans of the pupils from P4-P6, aiming to develop pupils to become competent digital media creators of the future.
