I first became interested in programming when I used logo as a 9 year old on our BBC microcomputer. Since then I have been interested in the potential outcomes arising from engaging children in programming and was curious to experience one of the Coderdojo sessions in Limerick. Now, I am no programmer! I had downloaded Scratch last year and coerced my daughter Roisin (who was then 6) into trying some simple programming with me. But we hadn’t gotten very far ….

So last Saturday she and I headed down to the local Coderdojo, a Limerick branch of these free coding clubs for young people, with our laptop and our packed lunches. I wasn’t ready for what happened over the next 3 hours. There were three rooms full of kids (and many parents) sitting in front of laptops coding. We were with the beginner group who were ‘first timers’. We sat at a table with a 10 year old girl called Kate. For the next 3 hours Kate, Roisin and I worked, with the support of the Coderdojo instructors and mentors, on making our pacman games. We helped Kate but more often Kate helped us. Both kids left on Saturday looking very proud at having programmed their first ever game. Here is what we did:

So now I put on my mathematics educator hat and reflect on what was happening that morning. What I saw was situated learning in action. Children sat in groups and worked independently at times, and cooperatively at other times, programming. They were the programmers and they problem-solved, with the support of the instructors and mentors, how to design the elements of their game. They coded a piece, tested it, and if it didn’t work they figured out where they went wrong. I saw my 7 year old and her 10 year old partner make and test conjectures about how to rotate the pacman around when he appeared upside down. I experienced them during ‘a-ha’ moments when they figured how to make a ‘cool’ background. I observed them jump out of their seat and go over to the others’ laptop to demonstrate their new discovery. What happened on Saturday was that the Coderdojo instructors and mentors created a space where children were able to flourish. This was a real community of practice. Most of us were ‘Just Plain Folks’ sitting on the periphery of the programming world but being guided and supported by the ‘more knowledgeable others’ who were there volunteering 3 hours of their saturday. In this space, children engaged in learning about programming not by sitting and listening to demonstrations but by engaging in programming by being programmers themselves. No one looked at their watch and no-one took a break. These children were entirely engaged, curious, motivated and excited. That is what learning is all about isn’t it?