When I organized coding activities for kids at the Makerspace Dushanbe, mostly I received this question from parents. My kid is not going to be a programmer, so why should he or she take part in this club? So, this post will respond to this question and gives you three reasons why every young mind should be involved in coding activities.
First, learning to code doesn't mean that the kid is going to be a programmer in the future. Instead, considering the fast progress of technology, this is an additional skill that helps the kid to grow much more professional. So, let's look at some reasons separately.
1. Coding is a language.
To code means to talk to peace of hardware in the language of technology. However, technology requires us to be very specific, goal-oriented, and creative. Otherwise, we will not understand each others' language. If it is required for us to be specific, goal-oriented, and creative to talk to technology, we learn them through coding. In other words, coding develops these skills in kids and helps them to grow smart. The mentioned skills are used in all spheres of life, which means coding will help them to be a good specialist in every job.
2. Coding helps kids with Math skills.
You would probably agree with me that many kids find math skills very challenging. Coding improves the logical thinking of kids. Coding consists of basic math problems, which makes kids solve and get the results. In other words, kids learn math in fun ways.
3. Coding improves the problem - solving skills of kids.
To code, kids have to write step by step, or algorithm, of their program. Each step plays an important role to get the program work. If the steps organized correctly, the program runs effectively. In the real world, to solve a problem we need to take the right to steps toward that, which is very similar to coding.
First, learning to code doesn't mean that the kid is going to be a programmer in the future. Instead, considering the fast progress of technology, this is an additional skill that helps the kid to grow much more professional. So, let's look at some reasons separately.
1. Coding is a language.
To code means to talk to peace of hardware in the language of technology. However, technology requires us to be very specific, goal-oriented, and creative. Otherwise, we will not understand each others' language. If it is required for us to be specific, goal-oriented, and creative to talk to technology, we learn them through coding. In other words, coding develops these skills in kids and helps them to grow smart. The mentioned skills are used in all spheres of life, which means coding will help them to be a good specialist in every job.
2. Coding helps kids with Math skills.
You would probably agree with me that many kids find math skills very challenging. Coding improves the logical thinking of kids. Coding consists of basic math problems, which makes kids solve and get the results. In other words, kids learn math in fun ways.
3. Coding improves the problem - solving skills of kids.
To code, kids have to write step by step, or algorithm, of their program. Each step plays an important role to get the program work. If the steps organized correctly, the program runs effectively. In the real world, to solve a problem we need to take the right to steps toward that, which is very similar to coding.
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Hi Lutt,
ReplyDeleteYou are right that learning how to code will pay off in the future. Many parents undervalue this skill since they have not interacted with coding and do not fully know about its benefits.
Also it would be interesting to compare the skills on being creative, goal-oriented, systematic thinking between students who learn coding and those who don't. This way, we could show parents how coding is important for children.
I would suggest schools to integrate coding in their curriculum so that students could start learning it early in their age. However, I guess as in Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, coding became a product for sale. Entrepreneurs organize courses on coding seprately from schools as a result of which not many students can afford it and find time for learning it.
Thanks for pointing out this important point. Of course, technology became a necessity in today's life and programming is very crucial part of this. Therefore, this subject should be taught in school level for all kids.
DeleteThis is truly a great post in that it informs and highlights many of the positive things that come out of coding. As noted, it would be outstanding if coding and these types of cognitive activities were to become more commonplace within the educational environment, and not simply an elective or something that is very niche. When you think about the direction of the technological world, there will be an extreme need for countless individuals that enjoy these type of activities and that have a great deal of training. Working to build a foundation for these skills at a young age is so critically important to that success. Well done and I truly appreciate you introducing this great technology to me. Cheers, Todd Luttrell
ReplyDeleteThanks Todd for such a great comment. Yes, coding and in general technology is something that you can not ran away from, no meter of types of work that you do. Therefore, learning from very earlier ages helps us to grow more prepared for the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Lutfullo - I agree with the points that you made in this blog post! Coding is a skill that i developed a familiarity with when I was younger using social media and now has helped me within my professional work designing my department's website! Thanks for your thoughts this week!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience and thank you for comment.
DeleteHi Lutfullo,
ReplyDeleteDefintely coding skills are essential nowadays kids. They like these information and they like to use them. There are many choices that we start to improve their skills.
This is funny I have been reading to my 2 years old son a coding book. It is very very basic but so much fun for him.Thank you Seyma
Glad to hear Seyma. Agree, today's kids love coding and any activities related to this.
DeleteLutfullo,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! I have an 11 year old daughter who showed some interest in coding a couple of years ago, but since has lost interest. After reading your post I would like to spark her curiosity again. Do you have any recommendations? I do not have any coding experience either, but perhaps this is something that we could do together.
Patrick
Mr. Patrick,
DeleteI will recommend trying hour of code (you can access it here https://code.org/learn) activities. It is designed the way that brings curiosity to all little kids. It has all popular cartoon films converted to coding activity and kids will have a lot of fun by playing and learning the same time.
Hi Lutfullo,
ReplyDeleteI like this post so much! I agree that coding is a language just like English for me. Learning and grasping a second language definitely will provide more opportunities and different thinking patterns for people. Coding must be one of the most important languages in the future.
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ReplyDelete