Helping Children Explore Coding Through Projects

In this 2019 GOTO talk, technology leader Seth Thomson shares how his family and a robotics team explored coding. His examples are personal experiences rather than a prescription that every child must become a programmer.

Thomson argues that coding can offer opportunities to practice problem-solving, creativity and persistence. His employment statistics and forecasts describe the period of the talk and should not be read as current job-market figures.

Before beginning, he points to basic skills, time, support and access to equipment. He stresses that children have different interests and that forcing a subject can make them less likely to continue.

His son became interested in games and coding, while his daughter preferred music and digital art. Thomson describes asking his son why he enjoyed coding rather than assuming the parent’s goals were the child’s.

The family started with games and later tried Scratch. Thomson used small projects and incremental rewards; he presents the routine as something that worked for his family, not a universal schedule.

Playing Minecraft together and using a keyboard gave the children a familiar environment for experimentation. A mod-design course later introduced concepts such as variables through a game his son already enjoyed.

Courses, camps and projects exposed the children to different activities and mentors. Thomson describes giving them room to return and explain what they had learned, rather than directing every step.

An older student who had published an app inspired his son to set his own goal. As his interests developed, he chose a course and eventually shifted from lessons to building a choose-your-own-adventure app.

Publishing the app involved technical obstacles across tools and platforms. A local developer helped the family work through deployment, illustrating the value of mentors and community support.

Thomson describes coaching a FIRST LEGO League team, where children work on a robot, teamwork and a research project. He says his son learned to share the keyboard and teach teammates rather than doing all the coding himself.

His practical suggestions are to participate, encourage self-directed learning, introduce mentors and help children find a project they care about. The talk also lists resources available in 2019; programs and products can change over time.