Campaign by Mattessons and Saatchi & Saatchi London teaches vital coding skills
A month long campaign by snack brand Fridge Raiders has seen over 24,000 children aged 13-to-17 take to digital coding, without them ever realising that they were being taught and earning an accredited coding certificate in the process.
Despite being on the national curriculum and widely regarded as the 'must have' skill for the 21st century, the UK is lagging behind other developed nations when it comes to digital ability, with kids especially not engaged with learning to code. This insight is supported by a recent House of Lords report, which highlighted that while demand for jobs in computer science were at an all time high, the UK's IT education standards have steadily declined.
Fridge Raiders tackled the issue by creating an online game, challenging fans to complete coding-based challenges.
The combination of gaming and learning was clearly effective – with over 24,000 taking part in one or more challenges. A total of 66,000 coding challenges were attempted with children gaining experience at level one python coding – considered the entry level qualification required for a career in coding and programme writing.
Given the programme's success Fridge Raiders are now calling for the gamer-fication of learning to become more prominent in the teaching of coding.
