In today’s digital age, coding is increasingly becoming one of the essential skills to learn alongside reading and writing. Teaching coding is not just to prepare children for ‘jobs of the future’ in programming or engineering, but it also helps them to think, create and understand the digital world they are growing up in. It also creates the opportunity for children to develop essential life and learning skills they will need as they move through education and into adulthood.
In this blog, we will explore why coding is important in primary school and explore its different benefits, particularly with developing communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving skills.
The Importance of Coding in Today’s World
We live in a world powered by technology. As we watch and use processes such as the traffic lights changing, the Google Home app, voice-controlled virtual assistant Alexa and facial recognition on our phones, we see coding in action. Many of us use these technologies without really knowing or understanding how they work. Coding is much more than just typing lines of text and code into a computer. It is an important part of how the world operates around us.
As technology continues to evolve and integrate into nearly every aspect of our lives, it is increasingly important that our young learners understand the basics of computing and coding and how to use and communicate with computers to help us. By introducing the skills for coding at primary school, we help to lay the foundations and move children from being passive uses of technology to being active creators. We also build wider valuable skills alongside confidence and enthusiasm from the earliest opportunity.
The Benefits of Coding for Children
By learning to code, children will be developing their digital literacy skills. They will learn how to safely work with technology to identify, plan and solve different problems and scenarios. They will learn how to interact with technology in a purposeful way and be creators as well as consumers of technology.
Coding also offers a unique opportunity to embed mathematical skills in a real-life context. Many coding activities use mathematical concepts such as sequencing, patterns and variables, helping to support learning and bring maths learning to life.
Alongside the academic learning, coding lessons also offer a great opportunity to develop the wider skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and problem solving.
Supporting Collaboration and Communication Skills
Many coding projects require children to work together to achieve success. They must take on different roles, listen, share and discuss their programming. They may need to consult with each other when things don’t go to plan, or plan ways to improve and extend their code. These opportunities will help to build strong communication and collaboration skills which are essential for success far beyond the computing classroom.
Developing Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
One of the biggest benefits of learning to code is the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. When children code, they practise breaking down big problems into smaller, more manageable steps. This process of decomposition models to children how they can think logically and work systematically to solve problems.
As they tackle coding challenges, they learn to predict and anticipate obstacles that might get in their way and to test possible solutions. Debugging is one of the most valuable learning experiences that coding offers. Children learn that making mistakes is not a setback, it is a natural and important part of the process. This growth mindset then goes beyond computing and helps children to be resilient learners across the whole curriculum.
Inspiring Creativity
When we think of coding, we often think about logic, set rules and structure. But it also offers lots of opportunities for expression and creativity too. Children often need to look at problems from different angles, perspectives and in different ways. They may need to consider and get creative to plan different solutions and then test them until they find one that works.
When children learn to code, they have the chance to bring their ideas to life. Whether that is creating a simple game, programming a robot’s journey or making a mini website, coding allows young learners to explore and grow their imaginations through many possibilities.
It also sparks curiosity. When children ask, ‘What happens if I change this?’, they are naturally exploring and experimenting. As teachers, we can nurture this by framing coding as open-ended explorations rather than rigid, wrong or right exercises.
For example, after teaching children how the basics of programming a robot, such as Bee-Bot, they could use these skills to create challenges, obstacle courses or stories for Bee-Bot to navigate in different ways.
Resources for Introducing Coding
There are many different resources to introduce and extend coding skills. The best thing about many of them is that you do not have to be a tech expert yourself, as they are so simple to get started with.
Here are five TTS programmable robots that can be the perfect introduction or extension for your coding lessons:
Bee-Bot
Bee-Bot is a simple to use, programmable robot. It offers the perfect starting point for teaching control, directional language and programming. Children can plan and input their algorithms to make Bee-Bot move in different directions.
Blue-Bot
Blue-Bot is a programmable floor robot designed to introduce and explore control and programming in an engaging way. Children can use the buttons on Blue-Bot to input their algorithms and watch as Blue-Bot moves. There is also a Blue-Bot app, that can be used to introduce block-based programming.
The TTS Tactile Reader Pro is also compatible and can be connected through Bluetooth to offer a screen-free introduction to programming with an external device.
Rugged Robot
Rugged Robot is a programmable robot, specifically designed for outdoor use. With a memory of up to 256 steps and featuring an obstacle sensor for navigation around objects, this robot broadens programming education, encouraging children to tackle initial coding challenges.
Younger children could create and debug simple programs through hands-on experiences. Progressing to Rugged Robot being used to master more sophisticated programs, including designing and debugging programs for specific goals. This will help to deepen understanding in computing and nurtures advanced problem-solving skills.
Loti-Bot
Loti-Bot is a more advanced robot which features programmable movement, accurate drawing capabilities and a variety of inputs and outputs.
It has programmable LED lights, temperature and sound sensors, adjustable pen holder, along with microphone and speaker, complemented by 20 pre-loaded sounds and innovative buddy and cliff sensors.
With the accompanying Loti-Bot App, it supports learning from more basic control features into a more advanced block-based coding environment. The TTS Tactile Reader Pro is also compatible to support a screen-free coding option.
Oti-Bot
Oti-Bot is the most advanced of the TTS robotic family featuring programmable emotions, LEDs, caterpillar tracks, line follower and colour sensor. This robot supports coding skills from KS1 and beyond, for example creating and debugging programs, developing develop logical reasoning and for problem solving that involves algorithm design and variable manipulation.
With different Oti-Bot App coding environments, children can control and program Oti-Bot within a simple command centre through to an advanced block-based coding environment.
In Summary – Coding Prepares Learners for the Future
Embedding coding into our primary school classrooms is more than just preparing children for the jobs of the future, it is about equipping them with a range of essential skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. From enhancing critical thinking and communication to encouraging creativity and problem solving, the importance of coding cannot be underestimated.
Children will realise that technology isn’t something mysterious that cannot be explained. It is something that they can shape, design and use to support them in their learning and lives. They will begin to think like problem solvers, designers and explorers using a range of skills for living and learning in an increasingly digital world.
