Incidental learning is a method of learning that takes place as an unintended consequence of engaging in another task or activity. In practice, this could look like a young child learning facts about the world through engaging with their environment. By eating different foods – an activity not oriented around learning – a child learns about different textures and flavours, what smells are associated with different flavours, and that hot food can be dangerous. Learning in this case is not planned, but is a consequence of other activities.

Relating to students, a child could watch documentaries or YouTube videos for fun and expand their knowledge incidentally in a way that could benefit their education. Most incidental learning is what takes place outside of the classroom, in personal activities and hobbies, though can absolutely play a role as a background to schoolwork.

In my personal experience, certain games and hobbies can absolutely prove as incidental learning mechanisms for computing. Games like Roblox and Minecraft can involve components of computational thinking and design. Redstone projects in Minecraft, which experienced players may use for exploring creating their own machines such as farming systems or rollercoasters, introduce children naturally to concepts of computational logic, introducing ideas like IF this component is triggered, THEN this consequence will occur. Children in their own time may incidentally come across these concepts and begin to develop their computational thinking subconsciously.

On a more advanced level, some children may think about developing their own programs, apps, and websites outside of the classroom. Today nearly unlimited free resources on software development are available online, and it’s not hard for a child to follow a clear tutorial in order to develop their own apps or games in their own time. Many children, as avid users of mobile apps and games, have a great curiosity and imagination in what their own creations could be, and will take the initiative to explore this outside of the classroom. This can also help if aided by a more experienced adult who can support their task and prevent them from being discouraged by technical language and concepts.

Other incidental learning tasks could involve robotics such as Lego Mindstorms, which some children enjoy using in their own time. Children can conceive of their own tasks and activities they want the robot to perform, and in the task of trying to make their perfect toy, end up learning about basic electronics and writing simple code. Once again, the internet is rich in resources here – Rubik’s cube solving robots are pretty common and very exciting for kids.

In some ways, engaging with technology in any capacity is incidental learning for children. As avid technology users, they will gradually learn about how these systems function. At first this is likely on a more surface level, in understanding how to use programs such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Word – to browse the internet or do their homework – but as they continue to use the system they will slowly understand the underlying file system in the computer; perhaps how the mouse and keyboard function and connect to the computer; how data is stored. It’s certainly a high level introduction, but technological familiarity in itself can be seen as a form of incidental learning by familiarising children with computational systems and allowing them to develop the kind of troubleshooting skills they may as they continue an education in computing.

Incidental Learning / Trinity Gulland / Computing in the Classroom (2023-2024)[YR] by is licensed under a