Coding and Creativity: Reflections and Design Proposals

*Simona Ferrari and Federica Pelizzari*

## **Abstract**

The aim of the chapter is to reflect on and guide the design of coding from the perspective of creativity and the development of critical thinking. The assumption is that coding is seen from a functionalist perspective: it is used to know and practice languages that allow and force a culture of market-driven schooling. Starting from presenting and discussing four different paradigms for viewing code, we will show why emancipatory and interpretive paradigms could introduce coding to develop creativity and give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of the world. We will describe design elements of these two paradigms and the connections with a media educative point of view. Therefore, this chapter examines coding from an emancipatory perspective and uses critical thinking to reduce the risk of being controlled by the informational society.

**Keywords:** coding, creativity, paradigms, media education, critical thinking

## **1. Introduction**

The term coding, although now widely and variously mind used, "suffers" from a certain underlying ambiguity that conditions a consistent and homogeneous application in different educational contexts.

This ambiguity derives primarily from the fact that the literal translation of the term is that of "making code", the sense of which is not unambiguous and can be understood as "assigning a code", "translating into a code," and "writing code" with the purpose of providing a machine or other entity with the instructions necessary to make them operate according to our intentions.

Some confusion of perspectives also results from this in the definition of the concept of "computational thinking" [1–3] which has always been connected to the concept of coding.

Definitions include that of Wing [4], who considers computational thinking to be the ability to solve problems, including those related to understanding human behavior, using systems and approaches specific to the computer sciences, such as abstraction, debugging, and remixing.

Aho [5] takes up this perspective in part and considers computational thinking as the set of thought processes involved in formulating and solving problems through solutions that can be represented as computational steps and algorithms.

The equivocal of the coding concept strongly conditions its development and the possibility of grasping its real opportunities to "teach thinking," proliferating visions of its application: the possibility of supporting the development of logical thinking, the development of specific problem-solving skills [6], and the opportunity to further engage students in the study of science subjects and computer science.

Against this background, this chapter investigates the relationship that coding can have with creativity and how both can be developed within instructional designs in preschool and elementary school.
