Back to basics – programming in 3rd grade between chaos and concentration

One day at an internal (primeTec DNA) meeting:

Inconspicuously and very discreetly, we were asked if any of us would be interested in teaching children programming via Calliope (the 1-board computer). This 1-board computer has LEDs, sensors, a microphone and loudspeakers, which can be controlled via Blockly programming.

At that moment, Andrea Schüttendiebel and I looked at each other and our eyes flashed. Andrea and I love teaching other people new things, helping them and are addicted to “ahhh, I get it” moments. We relied on our experience from numerous training courses with customers, which Andrea has even taken to the other side of the world.

The start of a mission

To get more information, we took part in a meeting where active trainers could exchange ideas. At the same time, the aim was also to prepare future teachers for what to expect and how best to achieve success – we had no idea what to expect. 😉

Many questions were asked, many experiences were reported and tips with approaches were shared. We continued to prepare ourselves with commitment and motivation and got to grips with the Calliope and the accompanying workbook. So we drew up a schedule of what we were going to do and were now faced with the question: which school would accept us?

A sad fact at this point: every school that had the need and resources would have taken us with a kiss, simply because it lacked the capacity and staff to take up this topic. For Andrea and me, the request at the DNA meeting turned into a mission – and it later became increasingly clear to us how important this mission is.

The acid test

We had a full house – 12 children were registered for the 1st run. To explain: We are allowed to introduce the 3rd classes (a & b) to Calliope. A run has a maximum of 12 children and changes after 6 – 7 weeks to give the other children in Year 3 the opportunity to take part.

We started with a round of introductions and a round of questions about what the children thought Calliope was and didn’t get as far with the material as we had planned. We quickly realized that our schedule was not really child-friendly. This experience taught us that it makes a serious difference how old our training participants are. Children’s concentration during the theoretical part is not yet very pronounced, so that timely exercises and even breaks for movement are necessary in order to provide “good” lessons. The lessons must also not be too “plastic”. I like to explain the EVA principle directly on the Calliope so that I can always show the children a haptic example so that they can visualize it. Taking an old laptop apart and looking inside is always a good idea anyway.

This made us realize that we would have to take many small steps with some topics and skip some facts, as this would have been “too much” for the kids. However, our biggest challenge is to keep the children’s focus on us and the lessons, as they want to show each other their successes or their folder structure differs from ours. But every lesson more helps us to learn from our experiences and by now we have our routine with our own methods (e.g. through a little game) to get the kids excited about the lessons.

Challenges and findings

But why has it now become a mission?

All children know what a smartphone is and what you can do with it. But when it comes to what a computer consists of or how to operate it with a mouse, things get difficult. In my opinion, current computer science lessons are no longer up to date and don’t cover the most important topics, such as the internet or other basics. That’s why Andrea and I have made it our mission to teach children how to use technical devices and the Internet at an early age. We also want them to search for problems, such as a programming error, themselves and try to solve the problem.

I admit that it is sometimes challenging for me to make sure that all the children are following along and that they understand the subject matter. But that feeling at the end of the lesson – “Bye Mr. Bahn! I had great fun today.” – is overwhelming and also knowing that I have “fed” a generation with knowledge fills me with pride.

Conclusion and final words

Finally, I would like to express my thanks: Firstly to my colleague Andrea – always motivated, organized and I am glad that we are virtually on the same (radio) wave. I would also like to thank Michael Lötzsch and primeTec for giving us this time off and for seeing it as an investment for the future and doing something for the regional community.