**Why children should be taught coding not as a technical skill but as a
new literacy--a way to express themselves and engage with the world.
**
Today, schools are introducing STEM education and robotics to children
in ever-lower grades. In Beyond Coding, Marina Umaschi Bers lays out a
pedagogical roadmap for teaching code that encompasses the cultivation
of character along with technical knowledge and skills. Presenting code
as a universal language, she shows how children discover new ways of
thinking, relating, and behaving through creative coding activities.
Today's children will undoubtedly have the technical knowledge to change
the world. But cultivating strength of character, socioeconomic
maturity, and a moral compass alongside that knowledge, says Bers, is
crucial.
Bers, a leading proponent of teaching computational thinking and coding
as early as preschool and kindergarten, presents examples of children
and teachers using the Scratch Jr. and Kibo robotics platforms to make
explicit some of the positive values implicit in the process of learning
computer science. If we are to do right by our children, our approach to
coding must incorporate the elements of a moral education: the use of
narrative to explore identity and values, the development of logical
thinking to think critically and solve technical and ethical problems,
and experiences in the community to enable personal relationships.
Through learning the language of programming, says Bers, it is possible
for diverse cultural and religious groups to find points of connection,
put assumptions and stereotypes behind them, and work together toward a
common goal.
