Learning to Code

In the picture, the students are learning to code using block-based programming. On their laptop screens I can see coloured blocks that snap together, each one representing an instruction such as moving or repeating an action. A teacher is standing beside one desk, pointing at a student's screen. What I also noticed is that the students are working on their own laptops but sitting close enough to see each other's screens, so they can compare and help one another.

Learning to ride a bicycle was very difficult for me at first. I could not keep my balance and I fell several times at the void deck, and after one fall that grazed my elbow I did not want to try again for a whole week. My father kept the training wheels off but ran beside me holding the seat, and one afternoon I realised he had let go some distance back. After that it became easy, and now I cannot remember what was so hard about it.

Yes, I feel it should be taught to everyone. Coding teaches you to break a big problem into small steps and to work out where something went wrong, which is useful whether or not you ever become a programmer. Almost everything around us now runs on software, so understanding roughly how it works helps us use technology thoughtfully rather than blindly. I understand that not every student will enjoy it, however the same is true of Mathematics, and we still learn that because the thinking it teaches matters.