Teaching every child to code is a vital future skill

Dubai’s newest schools are focusing on integrating coding and new technology into teaching methods.

Dunecrest American School, which launched last month, starts teaching coding to children as young as three.

Bill Delbrugge, director of the school, believes that rather than treating coding as something to be learnt in isolation, it should be embedded in everything children do.

An example lesson for threeyear-olds might give a child who is learning about the

Wizard of Oz the task of getting Dorothy from point A to point B on a computer screen. When they push arrows to move Dorothy, they are learning to sequence.

Nigel Cropley, principal at Gems Founders School Al Mizhar, which also launched in September, said the school aimed for all of its pupils to be coders “from foundation stage to Year 13”.

“We want these children to be problem solvers. It’s about solving real-world problems with the use of technology,” Mr Cropley said.

Pupils at the school will tackle projects looking at issues such as how the school can be more energy-efficient.

The school also has an innovation wing where children can experiment and carry out complex coding. The unit also has 3D printers.

Joanne Wells, principal at South View School, said technology affected every part of our life, so it was at the heart of the way the school was run.

At the same time, she believes that preparing children for a distant future should not mean overlooking the present.

“Everyone talks about getting the child ready for 20 to 25 years later, but on any given day a child is just trying to do their best,” Ms Wells said. “What matters to them is now.

“They can’t just be sat down and told about the future. It has to be about now as well.”

Teaching children soft skills and financial understanding is as important as teaching them coding, Ms Wells said.

Another new school, Dubai International Academy Al Barsha, has a product design laboratory where pupils can learn 3D imaging and design. They blend traditional design with modern technology.

At this laboratory, pupils can design and make their own products. Screws, hammers and other tools are laid out in an industrial fashion, alongside printers and laptops – pupils design on computers, use a projector to trace the designs on to the material, then make the object.

Pupils study robotics and coding in primary and secondary school, and there are robotics clubs and programming sessions available to senior classes.

The school also has a digital design studio, where pupils are faced with a research problem and have to create a solution.