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Tech folks are presently promoting “coding for all”. This Ars Technica article<\/a> summaries the decline in student interest in coding. For many this decline in an age of the role of technology makes little sense. I recommend the article for a quick overview.<\/p>\n I do disagree with one position taken;<\/p>\n there are few, if any, studies that have looked at how studying computer science or learning to code affects one’s ability to think<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I have written about coding in the classroom since the mid 1990s. Early on, our textbook had a chapter on coding and then we dropped the chapter when “focus groups” conducted by the publisher indicated this was a chapter few classes for preservice teachers covered. We now include relevant content in our Kindle book (a few resources online<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n Returning to the claim made about a lack of research – there was research on the topic of whether LOGO developed higher level thinking skills. Several integrative reviews exit. As I remember the conclusions, transfer depends on considerable experience applied to a variety of tasks and few K-12 students have had such experiences. Issues of coding as a type of computer literacy may be different.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One additional fact I remember from reviewing the literature is that few states a HS comp sci course as a way to meet math or science graduation requirements. This may result in a chicken and egg problem for many schools. Not enough students are interested in taking courses and hence fewer schools make the commitment to offer.<\/p>\n\n
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