Using coding to teach mathematics

I have been a proponent of coding for quite some time. I feel that it will be a skill that students need in the future. I know that this may cause some stir in many of you but here is my reasons:

1) Though I do agree with who knows what the future may hold, I do believe that this is a skill all kids will need. At one point in time no one knew how to read. In fact it was only geared to the clergy because they had to read the bible. Now that skill is in every classroom. We may not be there yet but I think we are very close. Coding is a part of everything that we do and our everyday. I think that it is important to know how things operate. Yes that does mean changing our oil and fixing our cars. We may not have the time but I think as adults these are important skills. Students now should learn about how their electronics work. How do we make them do what we want to do? I am not saying that all of them will become computer programers but we should understand the basics.

2) Coding does more then just teach programming skills. Students learn critical thinking, problem solving, and being creative. As students try and code they learn to research, ask questions and work through till they get a solution

3) Most kids if not all, love to code. Now I say this with a side note. I do find that when the task is meaningless then some kids are not as engaged with coding but if they are creating something and the right differentiation is in place then they are all in. To be honest you can say this with most ideas but it does apply here.

4) Coding teaches logical order and research skills. I don't have numbers yet but the more that I have done coding the more that I have noticed my students critical thinking and sequencing skills improve. I have noticed my students improve in making connections and seeing how all the big ideas link together. Again I cannot say this is all coding but I believe that this is a major reason. 

For me coding fits naturally with mathematics. I mean the main idea of spatial sense is right in our curriculum. However, that is not the only area you can use it for.

Today I thought of turning a quite boring lesson of order of operations into a coding exercise.  It was really cool to see the students take a foundational lesson and a very procedural lesson and apply some creative and problem solving skills.

The challenge was to create an app that can test students understanding of order of operations. Students had to also have their users think about misconceptions and possible errors.

Here is what the code looked like for most:

The students still need more time but here is the sample that we have been working on, link. 




Throughout this process the main purpose was not to teach coding but to understand the basic idea around order of operation. Sure I could have just told them the answer but they have now started to work through the procedure and how students can make mistakes. I hope that when we debrief they will forever have an understanding of order of operation.

This is just one example of how coding can fit into our everyday math lessons. The main focus should always be the concept and idea of math and then the tool. By teaching this way I have allowed my students to explore order of operation and to critically think about the concept.

I encourage you to try coding in your math classroom

What does it mean to be a Teacher?

I came across this quote last week:

Teaching is...
“inspiring students to discover on their own, to challenge if they don’t agree, to look for alternatives if they think there are better ones, to work through the great achievements of the past and try to master them on their own because they’re interested in them” (sorry cannot remember who said it).

I also received a personal message from a previous student's mother. In a nut shell she told me her son said that he missed me as a teacher. He said that he remembered my crazy antics and that he missed the learning and fun we had. She further stated that it made her realize the impact of a great teacher on a student.

These two statements got me thinking about teaching in general. More specifically, why I got into teaching and what teaching means.

It is very easy to forget how we can impact, for better or worse, a student in our class. We see them for the year but then off they go.  If we are lucky we see them in the halls or they talk to you as you go by but off they go into the yellow sunset to live their lives.   Every now and then we hear stories, read success stories or get a quick email that makes us think of the times we had in the classroom.

These moments in time make me think about why I became an educator. For me it wasn't a story of I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher from childhood. In fact I wanted to be a musician but my Dad told me that that was no way to live. I went to school to be an accountant but soon realized that I was doing this for all the wrong reasons. I volunteered at a local school and fell in love with teaching.

It was the light bulbs that did it for me. To see the mind work, explore, invent and be creative was truly inspiring. Not only that but to think that I had a small hand in that is really surreal.

Seeing this light bulb is one of the most important part of teaching for me. But how do we create that light bulb?
What got you into teaching?
What is teaching mean to you?

I would love to hear your thoughts.