QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY KEN KAHN

Q WHAT HAPPENS INTELLECTUALLY WHEN A CHILD LEARNS TO CODE?

If a child learns to code and reflects on what they have learned, they can acquire new ways of thinking about things. This is called computational thinking. This adds to a child’s other ways of thinking of things including mathematically, visually, physically, and logically. Computational thinking can provide new powerful ways for a child to understand scientific phenomena and complex systems (such as human societies). Furthermore, it can help a child to become a better problem solver as they acquire skills in decomposing problems, generating abstractions, and tracking down and fixing bugs (mistakes).

Q HOW DO YOU SEE ‘CODING’ FITTING INTO THE SCHOOLING SYSTEM?

Ideally, school children should be given many opportunities to do programming projects of their choosing and to tinker with and explore various programming tools. Schools should encourage students to help each other, which we call peer-to-peer learning. There is a debate about whether programming should be a separate subject or integrated into a variety of other subjects (science, mathematics, humanities, social science, etc.). I think one should strive to do both.

Q HOW WILL PARENTS ASSESS IF THEIR CHILD IS ACTUALLY LEARNING ANYTHING BY THIS?

If the child is given the opportunity to do significant projects through coding then it will be obvious when the child demonstrates the software they have created. This is a better way than standardised testing as this just encourages memorisation rather than creativity.