Tom Mason is Head of Mathematics and Head of ICT at St Joseph’s College, an all-boys secondary school in South East London. He is passionate about teaching and learning, and has a keen interest in digital education practices.

Mr Mason recently set his Year 10 students a creative coding challenge, which they completed using our Code Editor for Education. The challenge not only boosted student engagement, but also showcased the effectiveness of open-ended, student-led learning in computer science education.

Challenges in the classroom

Teaching coding in a classroom setting presents a unique set of challenges, with one of the most significant being the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). Instead of engaging deeply with concepts like loops, conditions, and sorting algorithms, students now increasingly rely on AI tools to generate entire blocks of code for them, without understanding their functions. 

Meanwhile, traditional teacher-led instruction methods that focus on isolated coding concepts like inputs and outputs often leave students disconnected from the practical and creative aspects of programming. 

Against this backdrop, Mr Mason wanted to give his students the opportunity to:

• Apply their Python knowledge in meaningful ways
• Collaborate and problem-solve independently
• Explore unfamiliar programming concepts in a guided but open-ended fashion

The project

Mr Mason set a simple but powerful brief:

“Over three lessons, build a quiz that asks 10 questions about what you’ve learnt on the course.”

With this simple instruction, Mr Mason gave students a clear idea about what to do, while giving them the freedom to design their quiz however they liked. Students were also told that:

• Their 10 quiz questions had to relate to Python
• After creating their quiz, their classmates would give feedback based on key criteria (how well the code worked, the level of creativity, the user experience, etc.)

To complete the project, students used the Code Editor for Education. Created in collaboration with educators and built purposefully for the classroom, the Code Editor supports a range of teaching styles and learning abilities. Its simple interface encourages students to engage with the logic behind their code — they can’t rely on autocomplete.

Results

The open-ended structure led to an explosion of creativity and problem-solving.

Without step-by-step instructions, students had to independently explore solutions to questions like:

• “How do I randomise questions?”
• “How can I hide quiz answers in a separate file?”

Some students created multi-file Python projects, separating the logic controlling how the quiz worked from the content, or static information. For example, some students created one file to store the player’s answers and another file to manage the quiz interface and score logic. Students also created other advanced features:

• Score tracking based on speed of response
• Use of external Python libraries
• Custom input and output formatting
• Algorithms to randomly order quiz questions 

All students met the base requirements, but the open-ended nature of the project allowed more advanced students to push the boundaries, without the need for additional scaffolding.

Educator reflection

“They couldn’t just Google the answer; they had to think critically and test ideas. That’s what made it powerful.”

Mr Mason noted that the project’s success was due in large part to the flexibility and responsiveness of the Code Editor. Students could iterate quickly, test their ideas, and collaborate, all within a platform built for classroom coding.

“It was the most successful thing I’ve done. I’ll definitely be doing it again every year.”

Key takeaways

• Project-based learning fosters deeper engagement and knowledge, and creative application of programming concepts.
  
• Open-ended prompts empower students to explore and develop their own solutions.
  
• Code Editor for Education encourages thoughtful questions and experimentation rather than reliance on autocomplete solutions. With built-in class management and project tools, it offers a safe, browser-based environment ideal for coding in the classroom.

Join St Joseph’s College and the 1300+ other schools helping their students build a strong foundation in text-based programming with the Code Editor for Education.