{"id":753,"date":"2022-12-17T22:34:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-17T21:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mygirlynames.com\/blog\/?p=753"},"modified":"2025-01-26T21:43:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T20:43:17","slug":"why-should-children-learn-coding-and-which-course-to-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mygirlynames.com\/blog\/why-should-children-learn-coding-and-which-course-to-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Should children learn coding and which course to take?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coding is an opportunity for kids to create, explore, and solve problems. Getting kids into coding as early as possible will help them in their growing years as coding involves both the left brain and right brain activity, which reaps a lot of benefits in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Coding is fundamentally nothing but creativity and problem-solving. These are traits that should be inculcated at a very young age in every kid. Yes, we do teach other subjects like Mathematics to achieve the same goal. But, no other subject has the power to inculcate creativity and problem-solving with immediate output better than coding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Why<\/a><\/p>\n

J. Paul Gibson, a programming teacher, quoted in an article for\u00a0<\/span>Wired<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by Brendan I. Koerner, said that \u201cChildren aged from 5-11 have so much potential for learning about algorithms and computation that it would be a shame to wait until they are teenagers before we teach them the foundations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Children do not have to wait until they are teenagers to start to learn to code. As the world has seen more and more young app creators come into their own, it does not make sense to hold kids back by not teaching them the basics of computational thinking and coding as young as possible. No matter what age your child is, if he or she is not introduced to coding yet, then the right time to introduce them to coding is now. Therefore, all countries are teaching coding to kids across the globe, and it is deemed a mandatory course for kids across schools in the developed and developing world as part of\u00a0<\/span>STEM<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a list of skills that children develop while learning to code:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. To apply mathematics and logic to real-life problems<\/span><\/p>\n

2. To learn to create things and to solve difficult problems<\/span><\/p>\n

3. To persist, iterate and improve<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Algorithmic thinking<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Critical thinking<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Attention to detail and debugging the problem to find a solution<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Creativity and Expression<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Iterative problem-solving<\/span><\/p>\n

How to start your kid on coding – 1:1 or pre-recorded course?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Most parents would have confused about how to start their kids on coding and whether to start with Scratch or Python or JavaScript and whether to take a 1:1 guided class or a pre-recorded course for their kids. At least for the first few years, it is recommended to take the 1:1 guided private lessons. Later when the child understands the programming constructs very well and can generalize across programming languages, then they can learn on their own from pre-recorded courses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>UnicMinds<\/span><\/a>, we have the most comprehensive range of coding courses for kids starting from beginner to advanced levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Why<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Why<\/a><\/h2>\n

Which course(s) to take?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Firstly, the younger kids will need to be introduced to drag-and-drop, block-based, UI-based coding first. The drag-and-drop interface teaches kids the principles of construction, flow, data types, variables, and thinking in a logical sequence to solve problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

As they get comfortable with basic coding blocks and understand the nuances, start with a simple programming language like JavaScript or Python. Both these are very good introductory programming languages. Python is especially good because it is one language that is used very extensively everywhere by industry and by academicians. The language teaches good principles of coding such as indentation, syntax, and readable code. Students can finish with a decent project like a simulation game of alien invasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next phase of graduating to a higher level, begin with a strongly typed language like C++ which is more complex, and start the process of learning coding with low-level languages. Or advance more into the current course of Python and work on slightly more complex projects involving multiple ranges of data. This gives a complete idea to kids which in turn enables them to spin off into any level of coding with both low-level and high-level languages.<\/span><\/p>\n

At\u00a0<\/span>UnicMinds<\/span><\/a>, we have a tailor-made path for each student based on their stage of learning and learning type. We have courses that integrate hardware plus software, and computational mathematics and we even help children prepare for coding competitions and the coding olympiad.<\/span><\/p>\n