Coding for sustainable development goals

Traditional education provides students with few opportunities to understand and solve real world problems such as global climate change, gender equality, hunger, poverty or good health and well-being.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all member states of the United Nations as a road map to achieve peace and prosperity on the planet, encouraging global development. Teachers can use the SDGs in the classroom as a tool for students to develop their critical thinking, but also to help them find their identity and purpose. Combining basic elements of coding and computational thinking with the SDGs will boost your students’ confidence, and you will help them develop their creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, problem-solving or communication skills.

In the activities below, students will apply the principles Scratch, ASCII coding and unplugged coding to topics of global and social relevance today. Teachers will be raising awareness about the sustainable development goals while helping them develop empathy, active citizenship, and prosocial skills in a fun and engaging way.

These lesson plans focus on one of the SDGs each:

• Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Download the video script

Ready to share what you learnt with your students?

Choose one of the lesson plans below and organize an activity with your students.

• Sustainable development goals and coding for climate change, for Primary School
• Coding for gender equality, for Upper Secondary School
• Karateka project: Knowing the karate through programming, for Primary, Lower and Upper Secondary School

Do not forget to add your activity to the Code Week Map!

You can easily organize a lesson in your classroom, an open day, or an event at your school. Just find a date and register your activity in the Code Week map. Each activity organizer will get a certificate of participation for their effort.

If you would like to connect with an international group of enthusiastic teachers, join the EU Code Week Facebook group for teachers! To take a step further and collaborate with other schools in your country or across borders – join the Code Week 4 All challenge.