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Coding: 21st Century literacy

Michelle Avenant
By Michelle Avenant, portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 03 Jul 2015
Raspberry Pi is a small, cheap computer children can use to learn coding.
Raspberry Pi is a small, cheap computer children can use to learn coding.

Coding is "the new literacy of the 21st Century", said Camille Agon, SA programme manager at the Breteau Foundation - a UK-based organisation working to facilitate coding education in SA - at the E-Tech Africa conference in Midrand yesterday.

The language of computing, coding teaches learners not only how technology works, but the thinking processes and creative problem-solving skills they will need in the workforce, she explained.

Within a decade, the majority of available jobs will be tech-related in one way or another, which means it is important for learners to know what coding is and how it works, she continued, pressing that children as young as five should be learning these skills.

Children in the 1990s were more literate in coding and programming than they were in the 2000s, said Brian Andrew, general manager SA at RS Components. This is because early gaming consoles and children's computing devices required programming skills to operate, he explained.

By the early 2000s, however, gaming consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation, were simply "plug in and play," and school computer programmes were focused on how to use software rather than how to create it, he said.

Furthermore, home computing in the early 2000s revolved around expensive personal computers which children were often not allowed to use for fear they would break or damage them, Andrew added.

Andrew believes a strong solution to the ongoing lack or coding and programming skills among youth is Raspberry Pi: a cheap, "credit card-sized" computer the user can connect to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor or TV screen, he explained.

In addition to its free-to-download operating system, a variety of free coding and programming software is available for the computer, which, in addition to its price and flexibility, makes it ideal for implementing in classrooms, he said.

The computer is designed to teach learners about coding, while its build-it-yourself nature allows learners to play with physical computing as well, he added.

Furthermore, its low energy consumption means it is a viable option for schools with power supply challenges, Andrew said.

Various organisations are involved in supporting Raspberry Pi in education, one of which is Rachel (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning), which has packaged a variety of online educational content offline through a Raspberry Pi-based local network, such as Wikipedia, Khan Academy maths and science lessons, and Gutenberg e-books, Andrew added.

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