We can use children’s DPA experience as a basis to teach coding skills.  They can relate quite easily to the experience.  Here I used the coding app Hopscotch to recreate students experience at the pool.  Students’ swimming skills were being tested to see if they could go to the deep end part of the pool.  They had to swim the length of the pool to be allowed in the deep end.

https://explore.gethopscotch.com/p/12yeh1x3r9

Sometimes though, students are not encouraged to continue their swimming journey, for various reasons.

In the book The art of resilience by Ross Edgly, one of those reasons is debunked.

https://www.amazon.ca/Art-Resilience-Ross-Edgley/dp/0008356939/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+art+of+resilience&qid=1693759485&sprefix=art+of+resilience%2Caps%2C262&sr=8-1

What struck me in this book is that Ross Edgly was not encouraged to swim by swimming coaches.  He was encouraged to practice another sport because he apparently did not have the body of a swimmer.  He was bulky, would not go fast enough.  He started to question the advice of these coaches and the science behind that advice.  He noticed while reading the science that research was mainly done in pool facilities and not in open waters.  His thinking led him to try something that no one had done before: swim in open waters all round the United Kingdom.  That’s more than 2863 km (1779 miles)!  He did that in 157 days.  So much for not being a good body to be able to swim.    He demonstrated a paradigm shift in what we thought the body and mind were capable of.

His motivation was his mindset.  He says that when you are stressed by an external thing, it’s not the thing itself that troubles you but only your judgement of it.  That stress can be wiped out at the moment’s notice by changing your mindset.  When you swim for that long, it’s the mindset that’s most important.  He gives several examples of how he changed his mindset throughout his journey.  Ex: I wasn’t wearing a waistcoat mankini and a gimp mask.  I was wearing an advanced form of swimming technology.  I wasn’t stung by jelly fish… The jelly fish hugged my face.  He also talks about the Power of Seeking a Higher Purpose on the journey.  He did not see a 10 foot wave crashing on a lighthouse, he saw a signpost signalling the way home.  In the end, you have power over your mind – not outside events.

Ross Edgly taught us that anything is possible!