Our students are learning a few STEM vocabulary words that can connect to help with their personal growth. One is the term “code,” as in “what is the personal code that you live by?” and “what is our class code?”. Another term is “operating system.” “What are the systems and functions that we run on especially in terms of what motivates our behaviors?”. A third term is “algorithm,” which gets at the problem-solving protocols we hopefully have in place to analyze and process how to handle various situations. There is an overlap between these three terms, and they are relevant as we choose a language that builds on prior understanding.

My eldest son helped me think deeper about the term “code” when I asked him about an action he took to help a friend. He replied, “it was an easy decision, dad because it was part of my code.” In his book Drive, Daniel Pink got me thinking about how our mental operating systems have changed over time, especially in the workplace. Specifically, he writes about a 20th-century work world built around providing external motivators for employees. Pink then explains that our 21st-century information and generative task-focused work world needs to offer intrinsic motivators for workers that provide opportunities for autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Pink also writes about algorithmic versus heuristic tasks and thinking. We constantly hear about algorithm use in gathering information, from shopping habits to social networking connections. Algorithms help to solve problems, especially in math, by having procedures to follow for various situations.

Both terms connect to character education, but helping students develop and apply algorithms, especially in elementary school, is a good fit for early character education. Our elementary teachers spend a lot of time guiding students to understand the steps to follow in different situations. They help students develop their initial mental models to apply in their lives. And while we want our students to develop heuristic thinking across the board, I think they need their foundational “go-to” set of procedures and protocols to pull from when making social, behavioral, and general character-related decisions. The “if … then” logical nature of algorithms, especially in flowchart form, can be an excellent teaching technique for helping students engage their codes as they visually process how to handle situations.

The use of these terms in teaching literature, social studies, and other subject areas furthers the connections leading to deeper understanding. An example might be to ask, “what was a possible algorithm that President Truman might have used to make his decision about using atomic weapons?” In literature, one can ask about the code students feel a character follows. How does the team’s operating system change for offense versus defensive situations in sports?

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