Making and programming
Terry Freedman,
ICT & Computing in Education,
Apr 19, 2022
I found this article a bit one sides, which is perhaps not surprising given the experiences described in this article. But Terry Freedman raises some important questions: does 'making', properly so-called, actually yield any learning outcomes? And how do you prevent young students from using bits of electronics as catapult projectiles? "There seems to be no academic research which reports that as a result of 'making', pupils have learnt to code," he reports. Freedman also notes that "what the research does say is that the kind of step-by-step instructional activity that seems to accompany making in classrooms is really not what the maker movement is all about." Rather than plodding step-by-step instructions, making seems more to be about open-ended creativity and bricolage. And maybe 'making' isn't really about computer programming at all. Perhaps there are wider benefits? Marina Umaschi Bers, for example, "argues that schools can teach computer coding in ways that develop character as well as technical skills," according to this report.
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