“We never use the word coding in our curriculum. We are always talking about computational thinking. Coding is just a small tool,” says Saieesh Gandhi, the technical officer of the Coding and Robotics Education in Schools scheme of the Goa government. He adds, “We aren’t teaching them coding, we are teaching them problem solving. This way, kids don’t even realise what they are really doing, it’s all play!”

This scheme propagates the use of tech to solve one’s own problems. I got the opportunity to get into a candid conversation with five shining stars of Goa, along with their teachers. During what was easily one of my most joyful conversations ever, we managed to conduct a rich discussion with 11 people all at once. Each person, student or teacher, had an interesting point to make about how they think that this is a step in the right direction.

This coding scheme is targeted at students of class 6-8 at all government schools in Goa. AI is brought in during the advanced evening session for those students who are really interested in it.

What the students say

“Coding is like imagination and animations and you can express your ideas in coding,” says Asha, a class 6 student whose coding project was even shared by the Hon’ble CM of Goa, Sh Pramod Sawant. She has made a picture of Gandhiji using block coding in Pictoblox.

Latika, a student of Mahatma Gandhi centenary school in Goa, is very fond of art. She loves to code because it gives her the chance to be creative rather than cram up the syllabus like in other subjects.

“Coding is a wonderful platform because you can express your ideas, create beautiful projects, and make games. We can also create games in scratch,” says Aditya. He has created two games, one of them being ‘chicken chase’.

“In other subjects we just have to study but in coding we have to use our talent. And here we have to use many mathematical concepts,” says Rosann, another student who has a deep interest in Mathematics.

What the teachers say 

It is continued evaluation, hence there is no pressure of exams. So, kids do the coding free of tension,” says Pallavi Ma’am. “There’s no hard and fast rule about which shapes they can make. The key is to use their own ideas. Even we are amazed to see how many shapes they have made – they have surpassed our expectations!” she adds.

Speaking on how important it is to create awareness about emerging technologies, Sampada Ma’am says, “We need to increase the computational thinking and aptitude of the students. This coding for shapes encourages them to think for themselves, which can be implemented for other subjects as well so there is a 100% connection. For instance, there is involvement of geometry while doing such coding: x-axis, y-axis etc.”

“They are so engrossed with coding that they might lose interest in other subjects,” jokes Nazeema Ma’am. “The creativity they can’t show in other subjects can be displayed here. Even though students don’t have a laptop they are doing it on their mobile where they have downloaded Pictoblox. Looking at their interest we are also motivated to give our best to them,” she adds.

Explaining how she continued teaching her students even during the challenges posed by the lockdowns, Sonali Ma’am says, “There are 40 people in the class, out of which some are always unable to join the online class due to either connectivity issues or device shortage. So I make a separate video for those who are unable to join.” 

Maya Ma’am adds, “When we teach them how to code, we are not emphasising or directly connecting to the Maths or Science subjects. Rather, we are making them aware of the things happening in their surroundings, develop that curiosity amongst them so that they think and channelise it into computational thinking and their imagination gets a channel. Once that’s done, those children who are really motivated to study more would opt for elective courses wherein we are getting AI concepts. So we aren’t directly teaching them maths or science subjects, we are giving them scenarios.”

• Read more about this scheme here