Coding is the language of the future and the future is now. Phuti Ragophala - South Africa

Phuti Ragophala is a retired school Principal at Pula-Madibogo Primary in Mankweng Capricorn District South, Polokwane Limpopo Province in South Africa. Phuti Ragophala says

"Coding is the language of the future and the future is now."

I am Phuti Ragophala, 2023 recipient of the Presidential National Order of Baobab. I retired but not relaxed!

Every year, during the first week of December, it's World Computer Science Education Week, where everyone should learn how to code. Coding projects actually cut across all ages. I started engaging my community children in Coding some years back using different applications.

Already they know how to code using Grasshopper, Scratch , Rangers tokens and Make Code Arcade . So this year, I engaged them in coding using Minecraft AI and Octo Studio applications. It takes only an hour to do it hence its Hour of Code.

There are several things that I realised about integrating teaching and learning with coding applications

-Coding applications cuts across all subjects

-Introducing coding in teaching and learning can significantly enhance student engagement and inject fun into the classroom environment. 

- Coding offers a creative and interactive approach to education, promoting problem-solving skills and critical thinking.

- It allows students to actively participate in their learning journey by creating projects and experimenting with code. 

-Coding also provides an opportunity for personalised exploration, as students can develop projects related to their interests, making it more enjoyable and relevant to their lives. 

-Furthermore, coding nurtures important future-ready skills, such as logical reasoning and collaboration, while exposing students to exciting career prospects in the digital age.

-After completing their projects, certificates of participation pop out automatically. That in itself motivates learners to work more and hard

-Let us remember that today's generations learn by creating knowledge from the teacher and not absorbing it as we did in the past.

-As such, I urge all teachers and school principals to flip over their classrooms from traditional way of teaching to modern.

If we don't teach learners the way they understand, we are depriving them of their brighter future.

According to me, a cellphone is one of the most resourceful resource for learners to use in learning.

As teachers, we need to flip over our classrooms from traditional teaching and learning to modern