Category: Program

Why We Need to Teach Kids to Coding

Obviously, don’t even get me started on the ridiculous skills gap we’ve got in technology and the fact that, in most schools, kids still aren’t being offered any options for learning programming. I can’t even understand it. So, when SheKnows asked me to write a couple of pieces on teaching Programming for Kids, I jumped at the chance…

We’re living in a digital age where mobile phones and tablets are a natural part of kids’ lives. Where even LEGOs have moved into the computer with Minecraft. In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, today’s kids need to learn how to create digital programs, not just consume them.

Coding (computer programming) is the art of creating anything from computer games and iPhone apps to computational models that help us improve health care. As our kids grow up, this ability to code will become as fundamental as reading and writing to their success, regardless of what occupation they ultimately choose. Continue reading “Why We Need to Teach Kids to Coding”

Why Kids Should Learn to Program

Programming hasn’t become this popular by accident. There is a growing understanding that knowing how to program is essential, especially for younger generations. Learning facts is less and less relevant in a world where Google can satisfy just about any question in a matter of milliseconds; it is skills that will enable children to succeed, and that set of skills must include programming.

Here are a few reasons why learning programming is important:

1. Programming is a basic literacy in the digital age.

Kids are growing up in a very different world than that of their parents. Cellphones, computers, Youtube, Netflix, and Facebook are embedded in their daily lives. Even toys are digital, and many are programmable, such as Legos and the new-generation LeapFrogs.

It is one thing to know how to use these technologies. It’s another, however, to understand the logic behind them. When learning to program, kids understand and tinker with the digital world they inhabit. Coding draws back the seeming “magic” of technology so they can truly understand the logic and science that controls this technology–a discovery that is all the more magical. Continue reading “Why Kids Should Learn to Program”