Inadequate Teaching Methods
Coding is not an easy subject to teach, and if taught incorrectly or in a manner that is difficult to understand, students may quickly become disillusioned. Hence, practice-based and real-life-example-based teaching methods must be employed by instructors. The instructor must be able to give examples at the student’s competence level.
Coding is similar to mathematics in that the more you practice, the better you become. This practice takes time and requires patience, and the instructor must give plenty of practice problems rather than rushing to finish concepts.
Lack of Interest
Some students may not have any interest or passion for coding. They consider it to be an educational task to finish and get bored easily while doing it. Coding may not be for them, and if they are going to coding classes unwillingly, it is not surprising that they end up dropping out.
However, coding is all about applying logic to solve a problem – we should consider it programming language agnostic. A student should start with easy questions and progressively move to complex questions. Also, some tools such as pseudo code and flowcharts greatly help. If necessary, a student can also start with a visual programming language such as SCRATCH to gain initial interest and understand the building blocks of coding. With some help, a student should be able to translate the solution into a code block.
Fear of failure
It is common for kids to become easily overwhelmed by the complexity of coding. They may give up trying to learn if they find themselves constantly stuck or unable to solve coding problems. Coding requires daily practice, but students often get impatient if their rate of improvement could be faster or if they see no progress at all.
This fear of being bad at coding must be overcome by teaching kids that it is okay to make mistakes. The good thing about a coding platform is that most of the coding engine gives you immediate feedback on the steps where the code is incorrect. To become a strong coder, a student must develop troubleshooting skills. As good instructors, we must let students know that it is OK to make mistakes as long as we are persistent, think systematically, and learn to break problems into smaller problems and solve them.
Lack of Interaction
When learning to code, an interactive teaching style is required for most students. Simply teaching theory and not applying it practically will cause the lessons to feel too abstract, and students will need help comprehending how to code.
An excellent online course comes in handy where the instructor can see the code written and review the overall progress using data analysis (time taken to write, number of questions solved, speed of the solution, etc.). To develop an interest in coding, kids need to understand the value of their learning by being taught about its real-world applications. The instructor should continue to share the real-life application of coding with students – this motivates students and encourages them to think beyond what they are learning.
Lack of Supportive Environment
If students don’t receive enough help from their teachers and peers, they may get discouraged from learning to code. A supportive classroom environment, where kids feel comfortable asking for assistance, is necessary for them to stay engaged in learning. They must be provided with access to abundant resources and tutorials, along with discussion forums and quick feedback.
What's next?
At CodeMode, we have developed our teaching methodology based on our experience in learning to code. We have built practice-based courses clubbed with timely help. We focus on learning to think in steps, break down a problem into smaller parts and most importantly, we take real-life examples so that concepts stick to the young brains. Coding is like Math – all you need is practice. Give it a try today.
