Humans of Code Week – Mario di Fonza, Leading Teacher Italy

Publication date: August 29, 2022

By Mario di Fonza, Code Week Leading Teacher Italy

What sparked your interest in coding / Code Week?

As a child I was passionate about all games that require strategic and critical thinking, such as chess. Next to this I loved games that needed creativity and collaboration, such as construction games. As an adult I found these characteristics in the ICT world. I wanted to bring my passion to my students, I try to do this every day in the classroom. These days I can do this even better thanks to the challenges and motivation offered by Code Week.

What challenges have you encountered in your role as Leading teacher and how did you overcome them?

When I presented the Code Week project for the first time, many teachers expressed interest in the programme. However, they had difficulty starting, because for them coding was perceived as a subject without any connection with their own subjects. In order to solve this, we sat together for a brainstorm. This brainstorm led to a planned path to take and an amazing collaboration.

What are the top three reasons why everyone / kids should learn how to code?

Computational thinking establishes, activates and enhances skills that are impossible to neglect in today’s education. It develops the ability to structured reasoning, such that students can break down and solve a problem. Also, coding stimulates concentration, memory and attention skills. It helps you to learn from mistakes and last but not least, you will become passionate about it since you want to see your thoughts come to life.