Students around the globe are learning computer programming from an earlier age, from Australia’s new national curriculum that will have pupils learning the subject from kindergarten to similar classes at primary schools in Vietnam.

In a growing number of countries, programming — colloquially known as coding — is becoming part of the national curriculum. It is not happening in Singapore yet, though there are moves towards introducing coding in schools here.

How can the Republic best teach its young students programming and what are the benefits of doing so?

WHY TEACH CODING

Estonia was perhaps the first to teach young students programming in a meaningful way, with a pilot project in 2012 that brought coding to about 20 of the 550 primary schools nationwide, with more classes expected to be rolled out soon.

The United Kingdom has taken it a big step further. In September, England will become the first country to mandate coding classes in primary schools. Pupils aged five to seven will learn algorithms and simple programming, said the BBC. By the age of 11, pupils will design “computational abstractions that model real-world problems”.

Australia is among the many nations following suit, with implementation of its new Digital Technologies curriculum under way.

And in the United States, a push from the technology industry has led to 20,000 teachers from kindergarten onwards introducing coding lessons recently. Thirty school districts, including New York and Chicago, are adding coding to their curriculum.

When children want more, they can take free classes online at sites such as Codecademy, where more than 24 million users take free tutorials, or Code.org, a non-profit with more than 38 million users that focuses on expanding participation in computer science in schools.

However, is it useful to teach students coding from a young age?

Google chairman Eric Schmidt has said that, in England, the curriculum in most schools “focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it is made”.

Even though there is newfound enthusiasm in overcoming that gap and teaching coding, research on what works best is limited.

A small study in Turkey by Baskent University’s Filiz Kalelioglu and Ankara University’s Yasemin Gulbahar, for example, found that teaching programming did not improve the problem-solving skills of primary-school students, although they liked programming and wanted to improve their skills.

While acknowledging that research is limited, The Royal Society in the UK concluded in its report, a precursor to the education policy change, that “being ‘digitally literate’ is fundamental to participation in modern society.

Learning computer science developed young people into “technology designers and creators” rather than merely “technology users”. From kindergarten onwards, it found “children can benefit from direct experience of programming ideas” in school.

Even though curriculum designers may have little research to guide them, an increasing number of countries are introducing coding classes now so they do not lose out on learning that may bear fruit only much later.

This was what happened in Germany, where the teaching of coding in schools took about a decade before it had a significant effect.

WHAT SINGAPORE SHOULD DO

Here in Singapore, students have opportunities to learn coding, although more from IT clubs supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) or private centres than in classrooms, as coding is not part of the primary school curriculum yet.

The approach is shifting though, and the IDA said in January that it was in talks with the Ministry of Education about how to introduce programming to students.

Education Minister Heng SweeKeat also confirmed that he was considering the introduction of computer programming in schools, not to make everyone a “programming geek”, but to help Singapore harness the impact of technology.

As the Republic moves towards introducing coding in schools and as it seeks to remain at the forefront of learning, three steps seem especially important. The first is to move quickly. Rather than wait for reams of research and a near-perfect curriculum, studying best practices from other places and moving quickly to set up coding classes would bring in the benefits of such classes.

With more nations moving forward quickly, Singapore will need to work fast to maintain its educational edge.

The second is to start educating teachers, so they are well equipped to teach coding to young students.

At the same time, it is essential to make sure coding classes are designed to achieve the right objectives. What is important is to develop “computational thinking”, which considers how computers can be used to solve or model problems, as Miles Berry, principal lecturer for computing education at the University of Roehampton in the UK, wrote in Teach Primary.

“I’ve no doubt that practical programming work on meaningful, interesting and challenging projects should be a part of the primary-school curriculum, but I would worry if this became an end in itself.”

So rather than teaching coding for the sake of coding and making coding skills part of the Primary School Leaving Examination, helping students learn how to develop software and solve future problems is more important.

While Singapore may not be the first mover in teaching coding to children in schools, it can still be near the forefront of educational excellence if it moves quickly along the right path.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Richard Hartung is a financial services consultant who has lived in Singapore since 1992.