Somerville students step up STEM game
Coding putting creativity into learning
A new frontier in education is being opened up in Somerville, where students at the Winter Hill Community School are using games to incorporate coding into their learning.
“Learning to code is critical because it gives students the opportunity to be creative in how they learn,” said Chad Mazza, principal at the Winter Hill Community School. “They’re learning without knowing they’re learning. They’re in charge and can take ownership of their own learning.”
While this may be new to Somerville, nationally the interest in teaching younger students how to code is growing.
Many advocates encourage elementary and middle school students be exposed to coding early to boost interest in STEM fields earlier. Experts say learning to code at earlier ages has also been shown to improve critical thinking and problem solving skills.
A 2017 study done by the The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop New America found that “brain and skills-building experiences early in life are critical for child development, and high-quality early STEM experiences can support children’s growth across areas as diverse as executive function and literacy development.”
Through the AT&T’s Aspire Accelerator grant, Winter Hill brought in Unruly, a Boston-based tech company, to teach students that coding can be fun. Using programmable floor tiles, the students learn how to code by creating variations of traditional recess-style games.
“Coding is about getting messy and experimenting and learning that it’s OK to fail so you can make something better,” said Breanna Lemming, founder of Unruly. “And it’s good to teach them that resiliency young.
“Even if they don’t go into tech, it’s important for kids to know how technology is used and created, rather than just be a consumer,” Lemming said.
AT&T announced last week it will be providing $125,000 to Unruly to provide tools and build a coding curriculum to be implemented in every Somerville school.
Brianna Wu, co-founder of Giant Spacekat game development studio, said “Just like some kids are attracted to sports or video games, some kids are attracted to technology and it’s critical to give them opportunities to learn about it early to develop those skills.”
Experts have also found that teaching coding at younger ages helps encourage more girls to pursue an interest in STEM.
“By the third grade, girls know if they want to go into STEM or not,” said Leeming. “So that early engagement is important because it can lead to that interest later on.”
Mazza said since implementing the coding lessons, the school is seeing more students motivated to participate, an engagement he attributes to the gaming format and seeing lessons come to life.
“Learning isn’t one size fits all,” Mazza said. “It is incredible to see their creativity because with kids sitting behind a desk to learn is becoming a way of the past.”