This course is not ordinary like any other course. The way we have our own company and do customer orders not only makes it fun and entertaining to learn Python, but gives us an idea of working and being independent in the future.
8th Grade student
37 secondary and high school students in Malaysia participated on an online summer school course run by Code School Finland. The course was targeted for beginner programmers to learn Python programming and working-life skills.
Entrepreneurship was a key course theme so students started in teams of four by ‘creating’ their own software companies. They came up with the name, slogan and a logo for their company. They also defined their company values and agreed ways to ensure successful teamwork.
The new companies then started receiving ‘customer orders’ requiring them to write various kinds of programs using Python. For example a payroll calculator, a program to automate marketing messages and even to translate cryptography.
The work was demanding, but also fun, judging from the well prepared team presentations of the solutions, illustrated with suitable memes and GIFs.
Role of self-assessment
Code School Finland uses assessment as a tool for guiding students’ learning. Students took an active role in defining the assessment criteria for the course work. They also did several self-assessment tasks during the course. This made students more in control of their own learning processes.
I feel like this course helped improve my coding abilities, and that now, I definitely feel more confident about what I can do. This course is also fun and includes other morals such as cooperation, teamwork, which I really enjoy.
Student, 9th grade
Students reflected their own feelings towards coding and their perception on level of challenges they encountered. 93% of participants ended up having extremely or very positive feelings towards coding while 97% estimated their own coding being excellent or great.
Role of teamwork
During the course, teams also evaluated their teamwork and identified areas of improvement. Overall, students rated team performance and teams’ joint final grades generally higher than those for individual students – highlighting the fact that working in a team was perceived not only more pleasant but also more effective than working alone.
I liked how everybody’s contributions to the team was to their highest ability, even if they all contributed differently. Everybody worked very hard, and nobody was left out of any decisions we made as a team.
Student, High School
Most common development areas included better communication and better time management. Sound like working life? We are happy to have students train for it already during school.
About HELP International School
HELP International School Kuala Lumpur is a fast-growing international school of 1400 students in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Their Secondary School Curriculum is based on the UK National Curriculum. School’s motto Life in All Its Fullness reflects their mission to help students to succeed in life as global citizens.
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