Island students showcase coding skills

Some P.E.I. elementary school studentsare learning a new skill this year.

As part of a national program through The Learning Partnership, 35 teachers were trained to teach basic coding skills.

Some of the students who learned to code met at Eliot River Elementary Thursday morning to showcase some of their work.

'It was pretty cool'

Students in grades 4 to 6 from Charlottetown area schools showed off video games they created themselves at an "arcade" that was open to the public.

It was pretty cool. And I kind of think I'm going to make a lot more games now.- Taryn MacInnis

Grade 4 student Taryn MacInnis created a game called Saving Starfish, where the player moves a bowl back and forth to catch falling starfish. She said building the game wasn't as complicated as she expected.

"When I first saw coding, I figured it was going to be so much, so hard. Because my teacher showed us a really great project and it had so many boxes. But it turned out you didn't have to make so many boxes," said MacInnis.

MacInnis said after learning the basics at school, she started practicing at home.

"It was pretty cool. And I kind of think I'm going to make a lot more games now."

Useful skills

Patti Graham, who teaches grade 5at West Kent, said she started her students off with ten simple challenges. She said they quickly picked up on the skills.

"Not only did they do the challenges, they started building their own projects," said Graham.

Graham said she expects some of her students could end up pursuing future careers in computer science.

And even for those who don't, she said the skills are useful.

"It's basically problem solving, setting up logical thinking, and when they have difficulties, they have lots of friends to help them to kind of figure out what the problems are," said Graham.

This is the first year this coding program has been offered in schools on P.E.I. The province said it will review the program and is looking into offering it to more teachers and schools next year.

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