Philip Thomas Mesman offers thoughts on tech education inves
Source: Dr. Aleathea Wiggins
A new school that hopes to change the way kids are taught had its first graduate in June. The Alt School is part tech startup and part school, with students working off of personalized playlists, and engineers working with teachers to create lessons....
Almost a year ago, Google announced a $1.5 million grant to help introduce 100,000 Canadian kids to coding and working with cutting-edge technologies. The program called “Codemakers” is aimed at bridging an ever-widening gap that Canadian kids seem to be slipping into in terms of coding education and skills. In the US and UK, programs were implemented years ago to start teaching coding to elementary school children. In comparison, Canada still has not implemented widespread coding education into the mainstream curriculum.
This deficit has made programs like Codemakers the only avenue innovative kids can access to learn the complicated language of coding. “We know kids are incredible consumers of technology at a very young age,” said Jennifer Flanagan, chief executive at Actua, a company partnering with the Codemakers program. “What we want to do is bring them from consumers of that technology to producers of that technology.”
Technology is and will remain one of the fast growing sectors in the economy. While other sectors stagnate with employment opportunities, the tech industry continues to offer a variety of jobs and the possibility of advancement. At the same time, computer science education is no longer something that can be taught as an elective course, because computers are now a fully integrated part of our daily lives. Many educators have supported the need for widespread computer literacy to ensure the success of students. This shift stems from the growing conviction that computer coding is the new literacy, as critical as reading and writing for the next generation of skilled workers.
"Computers are everywhere. They're not going anywhere. Every job is going to involve data manipulation or some sort of involvement with computers," Wendy Powley, a research associate and adjunct lecturer in computing and education at Queen's University, said in an interview.
Code For Kids, another coding based program, holds national events throughout the year to expose and teach Canadian kids coding skills. In the two years since its inception, Code For Kids has touched the lives of over 600 kids through more than 30 events across the country.
Tutors and mentors are also helping to educate children in computer science. Philip Thomas Mesman, a game and app developer and tech consultant in Oakville, Ontario, believes the lack of computer science in schools is not only detrimental, it is creating a growing tech chasm that our youth may not be able to circumvent.
“A nationwide curriculum standard should have been set and mandated long ago,” Philip Mesman said. “Every day Canadian children aren’t learning or implementing computer science is another day the fall further behind.”
As a youth mentor and volunteer, Oakville’s Philip Thomas Mesman can attest to the need and desire that children have to learn coding and other computer sciences. “When I’m mentoring students, you can see the excitement and enthusiasm as they learn new applications and skills,” said Mesman.
Children today have unprecedented access to the world. “Their world is digital, and not being able to speak that language in an effective useful way is hurting them,” Philip Thomas Mesman concluded.
With no national strategy on computer science education for young people, Canadian children will have to continue to rely on programs like Codemakers and mentors to teach them about the digital world.
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