• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Code School Finland

Teach for the Future

  • For Teachers
  • For Schools
  • About
    • Pedagogy
    • Team
    • Showcases
    • Partners
    • Our story
    • Contact information
  • Blog
  • English
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
You are here: Home / Articles / Get off the piggy train – learning for real life

Get off the piggy train – learning for real life

June 16, 2020, Tarmo Toikkanen

To keep school relevant and motivating for students, learning goals should be connected to real life. In programming teaching we see too many “piggy trains” where one just happily follows instructions. Coding should be taught for real life, meaning that teaching should be connected to the students’ interests, projects, and phenomena.

Piggy train: just follow orders

Coding in school is such a hyped field that there are countless companies and initiatives out there, from physical construction kits and robotics to web-based programming learning environments. Unfortunately many of them take the easy way out.

In rides like this kids enjoy themselves, but they have no opportunity to decide what happens or what they would like to do.

We call “piggy trains” these learning environments where kids just click on things according to instructions. The tasks contain no possibility for creativity or self-expression. These tools are entertaining and they have a place in helping to rehearse some fundamental skills, but the learning outcomes are also limited to training of a few logical concepts.

Hour of Code is a popular and high quality example. One learns to formulate command sequences and create loops with Minecraft or Angry Birds characters.

Command sequences, loops and conditionals become familiar in the problem solving exercises of Hour of Code.

Project learning: let’s do stuff we care about

If students should learn more than basic logic, they should also really code – create something new. Programming is an art form, just like that other mathematical field, music. This means that the student should come up with their own creation that they make. The teacher can certainly put limits according to the curriculum, but the pupil should be able to make independent decisions about their own project: what it will exactly be, and how they will build it.

It’s best to consider coding as a general purpose learning tool in addition to reading, writing, calculation, and drawing, and use it in project learning.

Code School Finland’s all learning materials are based on project learning. Students are given shared goals by also freedom to choose their own individual targets, methods, and materials, within the limits given by the teacher. A good teacher will allow students to create their own projects that relate to the subject matter at hand as well as each student’s personal interests.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin

Filed Under: Articles, News, Updates Tagged With: Coding, phenomena, project, studentproject

You May Also Like

Assessment for the Shanghai Youth Coding Competition
Coding is creative self-expression
Coding as a work method for all phenomena based learning

About Tarmo Toikkanen

Design researcher of learning environments. Teacher trainer.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

BLOG

Photo of Case Study report.

Case Study: Project-based learning (PBL) online

January 19, 2021

Photo of students working with their game development

Role of game development in education

January 12, 2021

Assessment for the Shanghai Youth Coding Competition

December 28, 2020

Photo of mother and daughter testing AI device.

Creative AI skills for families

December 21, 2020

More...

Footer

Products
Curriculum
For teachers
For schools
For parents

Online courses
My AI Robot for kids
GameDev for students
Pedagogy for teachers

Company
Blog
Showcases
Partners
About
Team
Contact

Contact info

[email protected]
+358 44 2411 024

P.O. Box 1188
00101 Helsinki
Finland

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
Code School Finland logo with Bobo the Robot flying thru it.

We have taught future skills to kids since 2014. We help educators around the world include coding, robotics and AI in their school programs by offering high-quality teaching materials and ensuring skill development of teachers.

  • Home

Copyright © 2017–2021 ยท Code School Finland

  • English
  • Suomi
  • Svenska