The coding mindset: Benefits and activities

Richard Cleeve
A overhead shot of a chalkboard with a cube on, with people around it with chalk and books

What is the coding mindset?

Over the past decade, the ELT industry has placed more emphasis on soft skills. The focus has been on developing personal leadership qualities, creativity, problem-solving, teamwork and communication and collaboration skills. These are all essential skills for the future of work – and especially useful when students need to work better together and solve unexpected issues.

A coding mindset encourages students to develop these essential soft skills – and practice them as a coder would. Teachers can use activities and tasks in the classroom that are based on this mindset to help students develop strategies to analyze, understand and solve problems.

This is integral to computational thinking and is how computer programmers think when coding. Yes, the coding mindset is a way of thinking, but it does not directly relate to computer science. Instead, it follows the skills and mentality that coders and programmers use in their work. Following this mindset can and savvy when faced with challenges in their learning or daily lives.

Four benefits of the coding mindset

There are several benefits to developing this mindset:

1. Gain creativity skills

One significant benefit of this way of thinking is that students learn that not everything they try will work out just as they expect. In fact, it’s normal to fail several times when trying to solve problems.

In working to find new strategies to work through challenges, students are also .

Creativity was once synonymous with art, such as drawing or painting. However, this now means coming up with new ideas and is a skill that is .

2. Learn how to cope in difficult times

We live in a world where we experience constant change – and we need to be able to find ways of managing. A coding mindset teaches learners how to build resilience.

By openly communicating with others, evaluating ideas and discussing a range of options, students will be able to work through uncertainties and confront challenges.

Not only will this help students when coming up against stumbling blocks in their learning, but it will also benefit their day-to-day lives.

3. Create risk takers

We can all recognize that learning English isn’t easy and that students are bound to make mistakes.

However, a coding mindset encourages students to take risks when approaching difficulties. It also helps language learners spot their mistakes and experiment with different options to find solutions.

Ultimately, learners become more willing to take risks which they need to do to reach a higher level of proficiency.

4. Develop the ability to overcome obstacles

When approaching a task with a coding mindset, students will learn how to focus on the important information. They will filter out any irrelevant details and find ways around barriers.

For example, if learners have to write a text about their last holiday in class, they could hit a wall if they don’t know how to use the third conditional to explain something. Rather than giving up, students with a coding mindset would use the grammar they do know to complete the task. For instance, they can continue with the past simple or past continuous, explaining their story in a different way.

This encourages learners to focus on their strengths rather than weaknesses to overcome obstacles and keep going.

Practical activities for use in the classroom

There are several activities that teachers can use in the classroom to develop the coding mindset for their students. These include:

Recognizing patterns

If you teach in a classroom with a whiteboard, you can draw a series of colored circles on the board. The colors should follow a pattern that students must work out in small groups and then continue on the board.

This simple exercise can be adapted for all levels and ages. You may even want to use flashcards with vocabulary, letters or number combinations.

Giving instructions

A great way to develop troubleshooting and problem-solving skills is by asking students to direct one another across the classroom. Put the learners into pairs and ask one of them to give directions and the other to follow.

They can practice imperatives and language for directions, while they break down problems into smaller, more manageable parts.

Treasure hunts

Creating treasure hunts works particularly well with young learners. If you have access to an outside space, you can hide classroom objects or flashcards around the space and give students clues as to where to find them.

You can also do this around the classroom or school if you cannot access the outdoors. This will help them to think systematically and follow instructions.

Pixilation of pictures

If you have access to an interactive whiteboard, another way to develop problem-solving skills is by selecting some pictures from the internet and blurring them with a pixilation tool.

Choose vocabulary you’ve been working on in class, so students are already familiar with the topic. Show the pictures on the whiteboard and ask students to work in groups to guess what the pictures are.

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    1. Bob’s your uncle

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    2. The bee’s knees

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    3. More holes than Swiss cheese

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    4. Bamboozle

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    5. Fuddy-duddy

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    But not all types of praise have the same effect. Let’s take a look at different types of praise and how you can use it to boost your learners’ motivation and?self-esteem.?

    Different types of praise in the classroom

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    • Personal praise: Here you praise a student for a specific ability or quality. For example, you might say something like,?“You have a great memory for vocabulary”.??
    • Effort-based praise: This?is when you comment on a student’s efforts. For example, you could say,?“I can see you tried really hard with this vocabulary homework – well done.”??
    • Behavior-based praise:?This type of praise?is where you comment on how a student is acting, an example would be,?“You were really paying attention during the vocabulary lesson – good job.”

    So how – and when – should we use these types of praise in the classroom??

    Try not to praise ability

    The first type of praise – personal praise – should be avoided in the classroom.??has shown that this type of praise doesn’t have a beneficial effect on motivation.?

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    Moreover, personal praise has been shown to undermine student resilience in the face of failure. Students showed less persistence when it came to challenging tasks and less enjoyment of the challenge. They also performed more poorly than children praised for effort.?

    Furthermore, when you praise students for their ability, they also tend to see intelligence or aptitude as a fixed trait. However, students who are praised for effort are more likely to see ability as something they can improve on. This feeds into the development of a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset.?It’s important to?instill?a growth mindset in learners to enable them to reach their full potential.?

    How to praise effort and behavior

    When it comes to praising effort and behavior, what’s the most effective way to do it? Here are some techniques to employ:?

    1. Be specific ?

    General praise such as “Good job” isn’t nearly as effective as a comment that shows you’ve been paying attention to what the student is doing. A precise compliment will make a much bigger impact on a student, for example:?“I was really impressed at how hard you concentrated during the listening exercise. Well done.”??

    2. Give praise in the moment?

    Immediate praise doesn’t need to be disruptive, but it shows students that you are paying attention and noticing good behavior and effort.?

    3. Avoid comparisons with other students?

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    4. Keep track of praise?

    Before your class, choose three or four students you’re going to praise that day. That way, you can be sure that each and every student will benefit from the motivational power of effective classroom praise!

    5. Personalize your praise, depending on the student?

    Young students enjoy being praised publicly, but shy students, older children and teenagers prefer positive feedback to be given quietly.?

    Don’t overpraise and watch your positive bias?

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    It’s also really important to be aware of your positive bias.?that teachers consistently give students of color more positive feedback on their work. It’s done with good intentions, but it can actually be harmful. If you regularly overpraise students for minor achievements, it can imply that you have low expectations for these students. And, this can make your students feel like they might not be capable of fulfilling the high expectations that you should have of them.?

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