Introducing coding and computational thinking in the schools: The TACCLE 3 – coding project experience

Abstract

Several countries have usually adopted several priorities for developing ICT competences from kindergarten to secondary education. Most of them are focused on the development of key competences and/or coding skills. Although coding may be very attractive for young students and a very good practice or experience, it could be more interesting to develop students’ logical thinking skills and problem-solving skills throughout programming approaches or computational thinking. This is a very exciting challenge with lots of possibilities regarding coding, robots, mobile devices, Arduino-based application, game-based learning, and so on. TACCLE 3 – Coding is a European Union Erasmus+ KA2 Programme project that supports primary school staff and others who are teaching computing to 4–14-year-olds. Specifically, TACCLE 3 project has three main objectives: (1) to equip fellow classroom teachers, whatever their level of confidence, with the knowledge and the materials they need to teach coding effectively; (2) to develop a website of easy-to-follow and innovative ideas and resources to aid teachers in teaching coding (they will also find a review of the current academic research and an overview of the resources currently available for teaching coding); and (3) to provide national and international in-service training courses and other staff development events to help support and develop confidence and competences in teaching coding. This chapter explains the work done in TACCLE 3 and the first experiences we have to introduce the computational thinking to the primary school teachers, with a special attention to the use of smart textile objects.