![]() ![]() Students who play, experiment, tinker and build their own projects (rather than assignments or puzzles) that they are passionate about, in collaboration with their peers, are far more engaged, interested, excited, motivated, and so on (I am sure you can fill in lots of words that reflect qualities you are hoping to see in your students). I have found, over and over, that students who are passionate about their chosen projects will work harder and longer, and learn far more, than students who work on assignments or puzzles that I have given them.Īs it turns out, the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at MIT figured all this out a long time ago. I am happy to encourage, suggest, and have discussions with students about their projects. The most important question I ask when my students are coding is: do they love doing it? I ask this because I want that to be motivating them. The focus of this blog post is on students who are using coding in their learning. ![]() In fact, none of these words can be found in ANY of the strands of the new mathematics curriculum. I searched for the words ‘love’, ‘joy’ and ‘passion’ in the Strand A section of the new mathematics curriculum and found a total of zero hits for these words. This is one crucial, missing element in Strand A and is the main point of this blog post. In any case, there is still work to be done to strengthen the ideas in Strand A. Why not first dismantle systemic factors in education systems that continue to oppress, degrade, prejudge, stereotype, discriminate, stream, exploit, and exclude non-white students? Maybe if these were dismantled then there would no longer be a need to ‘teach resilience’ to students. For example, ideas like ‘building personal resilience’ (which is mentioned in the Stress Management and Coping section) is an interesting idea but it is also a privileged approach. If this is the case, then this strand is a start but there are still many issues. My guess is that Strand A is attempting to address and change long standing sexism, racism, and so-called ‘math anxiety’ associated with the teaching and learning of mathematics. The most important question I ask when my students are coding is: do they love doing it? Strand A in the new Ontario Mathematics Curriculum is a fascinating new dimension with much potential. I know this because I have been working with students and coding since 1995 and my own approach and philosophy has evolved as I have learned from my students and other talented teachers and researchers. I agree there has to be some direction in this regard but the way coding is “taught” in school, and the way students feel about it when doing it, is going to have a major impact on outcomes. Unfortunately, after accessing and reading through a long list of new coding resources produced by various school boards and other organizations, I am seeing mostly lengthy webinars and highly detailed lesson plans that ‘connect’ math curriculum expectations to coding assignments. With the new 2020 Ontario Mathematics Curriculum now guiding mathematics in classrooms across Ontario, I think there is renewed excitement and potential to encourage creative learning with students, especially with coding activities. Where’s the joy? Creating something, and sharing it, is an exciting and motivating endeavour. ![]() Strand A, Coding, and the new Ontario Mathematics Curriculum
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