At Covenant Christian School all students from K5 to 8th grade learn how to write computer programming code and acquire basic computing skills.
Technology is rapidly evolving and we are quickly becoming immersed in and dependent upon an increasingly complex and vulnerable computer-driven culture. Most of us have several computers. We depend on laptops, desktops, phones, and tablets. Then there are the special-purpose computers we rely on to give us directions, monitor and respond to phone and text messages. Computers run our refrigerators, vehicles, televisions and more.
The question is not whether or not we should show our children how to use computers, but will we teach them the Biblical Trivium (knowledge, understanding, and wisdom) of computers and related technology? In other words, aren’t parents and the teachers employed by them responsible to teach our children God’s truth about computers so they will understand how they work and become skilled in using them for holy purposes? Effective classical and Christian teaching in the area of technology should result in graduates who are less vulnerable to cyber control and are better prepared to lead the way in impacting an increasingly technological culture for Christ in thirteenth grade and beyond!
There is a grammar (knowledge) of computers. Before they begin to use computers, students learn the basics of how computers work. In this stage of learning, students discover and begin to master keyboarding, block coding, and computer language skills.
There is a logic (understanding) of computers. After mastering the basics and learning how computers work, students are introduced to why we use computers and the right and wrong ways we can make computers work for us. In this stage of learning, students discover and begin to master computing applications, like word processing, data management, and other applications.
There is a rhetoric (wisdom) of computers. After mastering the basics and learning how computers work, students are ready to discover and master new ways to put computers to work effectively. In this stage of learning, students begin to design new computing applications, to write new computer programs, and to use computers to impact their world for Christ.
Students that learn the science of computers God’s way will be less vulnerable to dependence upon and manipulation by an increasingly technological culture, but instead will be more effective culture shaping Christian witnesses to their generation.