A team of teachers and students from the Columbus School for Girls, Columbus, Ohio, United States, have been conducting a one-week exercise in Scratch Coding at the Good Shepherd and Deacons Primary Schools.
The training which started on Monday, May 20, and concludes on Friday, May 24, is being done in partnership with the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST), Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology.
Students from both schools have been introduced to the basics of coding using the XO Touch Laptop computer.
This is a computer system which was developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be a robust and low-cost system with useful functionality, including the facility to go on the Internet, and to communicate with other users to be used for coding.
Scratch Coding has the greatest online resources for students at the primary level who are interested in coding.
The software is open source, meaning it can be downloaded to any system, including Microsoft Operating System computers, that are prevalent locally.
The partnership between the NCST and Colombus School for Girls will see more children being introduced to coding island wide. Coding allows students to convert their stories into reality, through text and animations.
In addition, it fosters problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as well as collaboration and communication skills, which have been associated with the abilities necessary for innovation and entrepreneurship.
In developed societies coding has become mainstream and pervasive through the education system and Barbados is hoping to follow this trend.