Teachers empowered through coding training
Engagement project shows how to impart concepts without computers and using limited resources
The coding craze is continuing to spread across SA after hundreds of teachers took a leap into the future and upskilled themselves through a collaborative effort between teacher unions and Tangible Africa.
The cohort of 600 teachers trained between June and this month qualified as master trainers and, in turn, will train about 16,000 other teachers.
The training offered by 12 young facilitators from Tangible Africa, an engagement project of the Nelson Mandela University computing sciences department and the Leva Foundation, empowered the teachers to teach coding concepts without computers using limited resources including smartphone and coding app games TANKS, RANGERS and BOATS.
Leva Foundation operations manager Jackson Tshabalala said 500 SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), 40 National Teachers’ Union (Natu) and 60 Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie (SAOU) teachers were trained across SA and orientated to coding and robotics as a subject.
“The most rewarding part of the training was demystifying coding to some of the teachers who reported feelings of anxiety, fear and nervousness before the training.
“Afterwards [they] felt encouraged, ready and excited to start coding at their schools,” Tshabalala said.
Hudson Park Primary technology integrator and ICT teacher Kelly Bush said the lesson plans linked with concepts pupils were familiar with in the South African environment.
“Some of these things we are already doing in the classroom, like problem-solving, logic and movement.
“The training helps to demystify what coding is, and how easy it is to implement in the classroom,” she said.
“Items we use in the lessons are readily available like egg boxes, chairs or shoes, so that even under-resourced schools can follow the lessons.”
Another teacher, Mary Ann Chetty, from Astra Primary School in Chatsworth, said she was already introducing coding concepts into her classroom and planning to offer extra-curricular games to children at her school in KwaZulu-Natal.
“I have a much better understanding of what we can do at our school with coding and robotics. The fact that the games are unplugged helps so much for a school like ours,” Chetty said.
Sadtu vice-president of education, Faseega Solomon, said the annual project by Tangible Africa suited the teacher union collaboration training earmarked for the year since it was themed “Skills for a changing world”.
“Teachers will be able to develop skills needed for the 21st century, like problem-solving and collaboration, to empower pupils irrespective of the resources they have available at their schools,” Solomon said.
Koos van der Walt, who coordinated the training of 60 SAOU teachers in the Central region, agreed that the coding concepts could be taught in both high resource and low resource schools.
Natu director Prof Sitwala Imenda said by using the master trainer teachers to capacitate other teachers, it also removed the fear their colleagues had about the concepts of coding. Many of the master trainer teachers are already implementing the training in their classrooms and receiving requests from other schools for further training.
Tshabalala said the training was also an empowering experience for the facilitators, who are mostly university graduates.
“They were able to share their technical skill set in a workshop setting.
“And for some of our facilitators it was their first time on a plane.
“The training allowed our facilitators to build up their capacity to offer future Unplugged Coding workshops to other organisations.”