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Creating a joyful and playful creative learning environment for pre-service and in-service teachers through coding and robotics�

CEMASTEA 23 July 2025

Good morning buddies

Linford Molaodi: Program manager and lecturer

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OctoStudio, Scratch – coding for self expression, coding for learning

The software were designed to allow people to express themselves while developing as creative thinkers

Programming or coding is often perceived as “a narrow, technical activity, appropriate for only a small segment of the population” due to various factors, which include: the complexity of the syntax that coding beginners and children could not master, lack of design and intension that connect to people’s interests and experiences, and lack of platforms on which one can receive guidance when things go wrong (Papert, 1980; Resnick et al., 2009)
To address the difficulty experienced by teachers and learners when learning to code it was argued that the coding language Scratch should have the following:

- low floors to help beginners get started;

high ceilings which allow participants to create complex artefacts over time
wide walls which support the creation of different types of projects so that people of different interests and backgrounds can be accommodated (Papert, 1980; Resnick et al., 2005, 2009; Resnick, 2017a)

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Aims of the CC@UJFE

Teach participating teachers to code using Scratch
Develop participants’ competencies of collaboration, critical thinking, communication and creativity
Guide and support the teachers to use Scratch for teaching
Model to the participants how Scratch can be facilitated online, should they want to start with SCCs at schools
Advise participating teachers on how to set up a SCC.

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Programs offered

Scratch Coding Club: for pre-service teachers

Creative Coding for Teachers

Short Learning Program: Creative Coding and Robotics for Teachers

UJ-Associated Creative Coding Clubs

Research: PhD – towards completion; Master’s – towards completion; Two master’s – to commence in 2023; A book chapter and an article.

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Understanding the dynamics of teaching teachers

Inferiority complexes in teaching with technology
The self-given titles - BBTs (Born Before Technology)
Contextual backgrounds (coming from different areas/schools with different economic statuses, and pre-knowledge about technology).

“I was trained…given responsibility to teach teachers…but I still have no idea of how I am going to fulfil this role. I do not understand. How is your program different? Are you not going to make things difficult? Asked a district-based subject specialist.

Anything to do with coding and robotics is for math, science and technology specialists.
Generational (age) gaps amongst our participants

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Cont…

Occupational hierarchies (teachers, Heads of Department, lecturers, pre-service and in-service students, post-graduate students, Department of Education officials, etc)

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The sessions

Conducted on Saturdays
Planned duration: 1 – 2 hours
Session structured into three components: the social, SiyaScratcher, and Share and Reflect.
Catch-up sessions were conducted during the week at different timeslot

The social: checking on teachers’ well-being, and inviting them to dance to music, share jokes and motivational talks. We wanted to create an environment characterized by sense of community (sense of belonging) and joy

SiyaScratcher: the hands-on experience of Scratch. It refers to working together in an online space to create Scratch projects. Siya – means “we do” in one of the local SA languages. Participants are divided into channels on MS Teams to create projects, guided by trained facilitators. Most of time is spent here.

Share and reflect: projects created are uploaded to the Scratch studio, and shared to the wider community. Participants converge again to the main channel and reflect on their overall experiences

“Our Saturdays will never be the same”

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How the platform looks like

Social: General

SiyaScratcher: Facilitator channels

Share and reflect: General

(Senior members of the team play a role to support teachers with technical issues)

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Design principles

Principle	Implications for the curriculum (The what)	Implications for facilitation (the how)
Create a family-live environment (sense of belonging)	Design activities that encourage buddies to collaborate	To ensure that buddies EXPERIENCE the sense of belonging, the following should be implemented and made explicit: Creation of smaller groups Buddies Inclusivity: we need to be sensitive to our differences
Incorporate the 4Ps of creative learning	Design activities that incorporate the 4Ps: projects, play, peers, passion	Facilitators should ensure that buddies are afforded opportunities to experiment with Scratch projects that accommodate diversity in areas of specialisations (e.g. school subjects), ideas and personal interests. The incorporation of the 4Ps should be explicit during the experimentation process
Enhance teachers’ understanding of how to create significant learning experiences for learners	Literature that underpins the work we do Activities that requires teachers to explore, reflect on and relate the readings to the teaching and learning practices Design activities that require teachers to engage with school curriculum content

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Impact

Lessons about teaching	Self-development	Competencies
Should be flexible Can be fun (interesting, engaging) that coding can be used to help learners develop creative thinking is a lifelong learning career must be well structured Teacher demeanour is important Learnt different teaching strategies (facilitators helped us to discover things on our own)	managing time better to become more self-regulated become more self-confident	They learnt the several skills, including communication, problem-solving, collaboration and creative thinking with the later two being predominant

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Cont…

Participating in the SCC was joyful (fun, interesting, great, fulfilling, enjoyed, exciting, excellent, incredible, good, intriguing)
They experienced a sense of equality

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Reflections

Participant	Link
Nonkululeko Mabaso	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmge-1Brsc Structure, communication, literature, learning about and through technology
Serah Malinga	https://bit.ly/3Dx3lkF I never thought I would do this. I am a master now
Makgopung Molatlhwa	https://youtu.be/2j4pzUfsPf4 I am much of a better teacher than I was before I joined the SLP. It was enjoyable, addictive and lot of fun.
Asiphe Ndaba	https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KttPJbHvSyS_EdF7aCIEoB6SFC_YyHeY/view My life has never been the same again. I have also developed personally and socially

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SCC quotes

“Participating in scratch was made easy and fun by our facilitators. They ensured that the learning environment and the atmosphere was a comfortable and welcoming . It was because of this welcoming environment that I was looking forward to attending the class every Saturday. I am not one person to post a lot on social media, but with scratch I got out of my shell and interacted with my fellow scratch buddies and other scratchers around the world. I found a new family through scratch as I got follow people from different countries and learn how they work”

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Cont…

“My experience in learning how to code with Scratch was nothing short of amazing. First of all, thanks to Mr Molaodi for introducing us to this amazing platform, for not being uptight because the experience did not feel like we were with a lecturer but like a friend that was free and also thanks to Mr Baloi for being with us, for the support and the jokes he cracked, they were hilarious. To all the Facilitators, thank you also, your support did not go unnoticed and you were amazing. What I liked about scratch it was the environment that was created, the learning atmosphere was so friendly and conducive. One would not feel like they are in a classroom but they are somewhere out in the playground and having fun but at the same time learning. I also like the fact that there was no perfect project. All of the projects that we created in the begging we celebrated and we were applauded like there were big. The energy that comes with the team every Saturday morning was great, starting from being asked how we felt that particular morning to the last minute of the meeting when we had to say bye and take snapshots for sharing the on our social media platforms”

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Cont…

“You know it was nice because everyone was equal. Like.. there was so that there was no gap between the facilitator in the students..like if maybe someone could pass by in that group... they're going to say there's no facilitator in here. We could not spot that gap. We made everyone's contribution equal. There was no gap between us, the facilitator, their students, and was nice”

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Our Saturdays will never be the same

Facebook: Creative Coding at UJ Faculty of Education

Instagram: creativecoding_ujeducation

Twitter: creative_UJEdu

Overview of the project video on YouTube: Creative Coding @ UJ Faculty of Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzjsFGtN7ck&t=17s