St Joseph’s Payneham has embraced Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) technology, in line with the new Australian Digital Technologies curriculum where students are being taught computer literacy from an early age.
Coding and Computer Science from Reception to 7 is a focus at the school.
Coding is a key component of Computational Thinking, which is part of the new subject of Digital Technologies. This ‘language’ is increasingly seen as a vital skill for young people to learn. Coding assists students to understand the digital world, and to actively shape that world.
Ingrid Douventzidis, Deputy Principal, said that it’s a skill that encourages students to become creators, not just consumers, of the technology they use. It helps them to organise their ideas, express themselves clearly and share it with the world. It also develops the children’s problem solving abilities.
Reception to Year 2 students use a Bee Bot, a plastic bumblebee-like robot that has a selection of buttons on its back, allowing up to 40 commands to be used. Students enter codes to move the Bee Bot around hand-drawn roads and building blocks.
Year 3, 4 and 5 students progress to the Spheros, a plastic ball that can be programmed, then in later years our Year 6 and 7s move to working with Robotics.
“All the students love it, they can’t wait to do coding – they think they’re coming to play and don’t realise they’re learning at the same time,” said Ingrid.
The skills learnt in coding can be applied in many fields. Teaching children to code is about opening up young minds to the creative aspects of programming.
Twenty students from Catholic schools in South Australia have been named among the winners in two major state-wide Humanities competitions.
Earlier this year, senior school students from across South Australia were invited to enter the 2024 Premier’s Anzac Spirit School Prize and the Muriel Matters Awards.
