Q: Why is it important that students learn how to code as early as middle school?
A: “The innovative piece is that we’re always asking students to solve problems, ask questions and question the world around them,” says Sarah McKeown, instructional design and innovation specialist at Laurel School. “Specifically, ‘How can I use technology to make the world a better place?’ And that’s kind of where the computer science piece comes into it. The skills that they’re going to gain through early and often exposure to computer science will really apply to any and all aspects of their life.They’ll be able to deconstruct a problem and tackle the small parts of it. It’s important to find out what it is that interests your child and then figure out a way for them to incorporate coding, programming or problem-solving into things that they have passion for. That’s really the important piece, is that it’s applicable to using these skills in their everyday life. They’re going to be able to be good problem-solvers.”
