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Give children the understanding of tools to grasp the nature of technology. Photograph: Utiwamoj/Alamy
Give children the understanding of tools to grasp the nature of technology. Photograph: Utiwamoj/Alamy

Every child should learn to program, but not necessarily how to code

This article is more than 9 years old

If education shifted the focus from learning computing language to the digital building process itself, a world of creativity could be unleashed

A UK digital skills gap looms

I am a proud geek and father of three young children. I taught myself to code Basic at the age of 12 on my father’s Commodore 64, and I actively encourage my children to be enthused by the notion of building with digital tools. But I don’t necessarily agree with the notion that every child must learn how to code.

Yes, technology is the fastest growing sector of the UK economy with over a quarter of all new jobs in London coming from the technology sector. And yes, what parent would not want their child to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Ma.

To thrive in what some have called the second machine age, we, as parents, should ensure that our children develop the right skills. Just as we want them to express themselves clearly through writing, or contextualise the world through geography and develop numeracy through mathematics, we need to give the understanding of tools to grasp the accelerating nature of technology.

Last year, the UK government took a bold step by adding coding into the core school curriculum. From this school year onwards your children will be exposed to Boolean logic and bring home words like Ruby and Objective C. The challenge is that few parents (and not all teachers) really understand what coding is all about.

First, let’s stop calling it coding.

Coding refers to the use of a specific computing language to string together instructions for a computing device to execute. Instead, let’s talk about programming: the process and concepts of logic which – when implemented via code – bring digital services to life.

I don’t think every child in the world needs to know how to write or read Python or C++, but I do think that every one of them should understand the structure, the logic and the interconnection of technologies which allows them to play Angry Birds, watch a YouTube video or have mum and dad buy something on Amazon.

So how does this self-professed geek Dad put this into practice with my six, four and two year olds? By focusing on the creative process and introducing them to the concept of building cool things with digital tools.

At home we use Lego Mindstorms to build snake robots that can be controlled with an iPhone. It takes something familiar (Lego bricks) and links it to developer software which the kids use to build new things and modify them. They’re programming, but they just think of it as more fun Lego time.

We recently started playing Minecraft where they can build whatever they can imagine in a virtual world while fighting things like creepers and giant spiders. Think of it as the world’s largest digital Lego set where your imagination can run wild. The kids learn about logical concepts, such as how wood and flint must be combined to create a bow and arrow, and how laying out blocks of granite will make a shelter.

We also use age-appropriate applications and hardware. We recently received our Kano device which is a child-friendly computer built by a London-based startup. Children aged six to fourteen use it to easily assemble their own computer and play games as a way of learning basic programming building blocks. They’re programming, but they just think it is ‘super-awesome’ that they have their own computer.

For older kids, there are a number of iPad and web-based tools such as ScratchJr and Kandu. These are intuitive applications children use to snap building blocks (which has underlying code) to create their own apps and games which they can share with friends, play together and rate.

Even as a technologist, I appreciate that coding is daunting and that the notion of my kids eventually coming home with C++ homework will be trying, but an important first step for parents is to stop being scared of coding and focus on the creative process that can be unleashed.

In partnership with Free:Formers, a UK-based digital education company, the head of my son’s school and I put together a one-day course for parents to demystify coding. We had space for a dozen, but we are heavily oversubscribed. In a few weeks time, doctors, lawyers, bankers, full-time mothers will proudly walk away with a little icon on their phone showing off the app that they built from scratch. There will have been a couple of lines of code written, but more importantly they will each hopefully understand that it was logic, assembly of building blocks and technology standards that allowed each of them to create something from scratch.

Christian Hernandez is co-founder of White Star Capital and former director, EMEA, Facebook. Follow Christian on Twitter @christianhern

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