Cracking computer codes

Tamariki from Pehiaweri Marae spent more than an hour using games as a way to learn computer coding. From left: Blake Brown, Raniera Harris, Tema Fenton-Coyne and Ngakau Fenton-Phillips.

A Northland marae has combined Maori culture and modern technology to improve the community's digital knowledge.

This week communities and groups all over the world will be participating in the Hour of Code, an event providing programmes to teach people computer coding. But for Pehiaweri Marae in Whangarei the event was part of a wider research project in partnership with NorthTec, launched earlier this year, looking at creating a digitally literate community.

Tema Fenton-Coyne, NorthTec research educator, said the Hour of Code on Tuesday saw up to 25 youth aged 5 to 17 from the marae gather at papakainga (communal Maori land) to build an understanding of how computers work.

"Right now they know how to use them but this is about developing an understanding of how it works. For Maori it is so important to know your whakapapa and your roots and how we are connected and learning has the same values it's so important to know how things work, how arrows make you go left and right, it's science," she said.

Ms Fenton-Coyne said through the Hour of Code the youth were able to use Star Wars, Minecraft (a 3D block world game) or Disney's Frozen games to learn computer programming and coding. She used the event to monitor youth engagement and find out what to include in programmes to run at the marae next year.

In April Pehiaweri Marae and NorthTec were granted $180,000 by the Ministry of Science and Innovation's Vision Matauranga Capability Fund to run programmes at the marae aimed at improving the community's digital knowledge. Since then Ms Fenton-Coyne has been part of research determining what programmes were needed in the community and what barriers needed to be overcome.

"We want to encourage software development and computer programming or even teach kaumatua and kuia how to use email. One thing we're looking at is some type of mobile learning as one of the barriers preventing people from attending these courses was transport," she said.

Discussions about the Hour of Code had excited the community and Ms Fenton-Coyne said in February next year a weekly Code Club will be established at the marae. "The kids loved it, they were asking 'can we stay' and have all signed up to the Code Club."