3 Presentation Learnings from Teaching

Coding with kids in the IMC Weekend School

What can we teach children? Or what can they teach us? I asked myself the first question when I joined the IMC Weekend School for my lessons on coding. Without knowing, these students actually taught me about interaction, communication, and underestimation. Three learnings I took from this experience that help you become a better presenter.

IMC Weekend School

For children from underprivileged neighborhoods, the IMC Weekend School provides a supplementary Sunday school. Between the age of 10 and 14 years old, the students join for a three-year program. In the lessons, various guest teachers introduce their profession. Like arts, entrepreneurship, journalism, law, medicine, philosophy, or technology. Joining the IMC Weekend School in Amsterdam North as ‘Teacher Maurits’ was a new experience: challenging and joyful. The lessons were either in the class while schools were open or a self-learning package at home.

The central topic of my lessons was coding. This technology is all around us in computers like mobile phones, laptops, and game consoles. Yet, not all students are knowledgeable of the mechanisms in these devices. Meanwhile, the economy is further digitizing and companies are searching for tech talent. By 2025 AI will displace 85 million jobs, while also creating 97 million new jobs according to The Future of Jobs Report. For these reasons, the goals of the lessons were to show the diversity of technology, emphasize its creative side and be open about the upsides and downsides. How can we make coding less nerdy, by letting the students explain and practice it themselves?

#1 Present with interaction

The lessons started with a theoretical part. Which is directly a challenge. The tension arc of every person differs. Adults often fake that they pay attention for tens of minutes out of courtesy. While children more forthright show their negligence. How do you make students part of the learning process? On the advice of class coordinators, I mixed theory with various questions. Instead of just sending information, try to let the students come up with it themselves. Creating a collaborative learning environment. The theoretical introduction was concluded with an interactive Kahoot quiz. The students love this.

Following this hands-on learning, I introduced the ‘Human Robot’ exercise. A great way to teach them about the importance of giving clear instructions to a machine. An unplugged coding exercise, as there is no actual computer involved. For the ‘Human Robot’, one volunteer is blindfolded to act like a robot. The class discusses and provides instructions. The assignment is to make a sandwich with chocolate sprinkles. It turned out to be difficult but hilarious. These directions needed to be small and precise. For example, it is impossible to pick the slice of bread from the bag, without instructing to open the bag first. After a bit of trial and error, the students became more familiar with the process. Successfully instructing the ‘robot’ to complete the sandwich. Yes, with some chocolate sprinkles on the floor. By presenting with interaction, the students discovered the concept of coding by their own actions and answers.

#2 Practice clear communication and guidance

Like every presenter, a teacher is guiding his audience through a story. On this journey, you need to practice clear communication and instructions. Technology includes various complex terms and buzzwords. No issue to use these, but explain them with examples. I shared a screenshot of my first website, an ugly Pokémon page, to show how I started coding. Sharing personal experiences makes it easier to relate to a difficult subject.

Teaching is not only transferring knowledge. It is also determining the direction. Tell the students clearly what you’re expecting from them and repeat the key points in a summary. Combine this guidance with highlighting good behavior by giving compliments to the students. Not with generic compliments, but by substantiating these with your observations.

Guidance is also required when making groups or selecting a student. Students like to form groups themselves. Still, it is sometimes more effective if you do it yourself. Just like a simple lottery is a great way to select one student, while many want to speak up. This presenter leadership contributes to the students’ acceptance of your selection. Your audience strongly benefits from clear expectations and explanatory examples in not losing track.

#3 Don’t underestimate your audience

Although a topic may seem too complicated for your audience, like coding for 11 year-olds. their curiosity and talent can surprise you. The fresh knowledge about coding was put into practice with the Micro Bit, a mini-computer. This is a great hardware tool to further support our hands-on learning approach. Instead of syntax coding, the students were introduced to programming with visual coding. They used Microsoft MakeCode. Which is easy to use from the browser, with various tutorials, in many languages, and even without a Micro Bit.

In duos, they followed various exercises to program the Micro Bit to show text in LED lights or play sounds. Starting up required some extra individual support. During this startup, some students expressed disinterest, which is not their real emotion. It is often caused by their uncertainty. Thus, it is important to encourage your audience to keep participating. With this encouragement, the students surprised me with how quick and inventive they coded. Making the lessons a success. Illustrated by students expressing their joy with “I want to continue with coding.” and “Can I take the Micro Bit home?”. With the right exercise and support, your audience exceeds expectations and inspires.

Conclusion

Whether your audience is older or even younger than my class. Remember these three learnings on presenting the students taught me. Interact with your audience while presenting by asking questions. Practice clear communication and guidance by clear expectations and explanatory examples. Don’t underestimate your audience’s behavior and talent with the right exercise and support. These learnings help you in delivering an engaging presentation that activates your audience.

The activities were organized in collaboration with the great IMC Weekend School coordinators of Amsterdam North and fellow motivated volunteers. The applicable covid policies were followed. Do you want to contribute to the IMC Weekend School? Check out their website, imcweekendschool.nl for more information.