We all want our students to gain the life skills they need to achieve academic, personal, and eventually career success. But with so many important skills and extracurriculars available for them to learn, it can be hard to know what to prioritize.
Coding is one skill that stands out in the modern era. It offers kids a boost in important life skills, socialization, and schooling — as well as a head start on their future careers. It may feel like difficult to understand why coding is suitable for your kid. We are here to help and share information that can help you understand and decide.
The ability to solve problems is a trait that is useful in life in general. We all want our children to become excellent problem solvers so that they can overcome any adversity they face. Learning to code gives children the chance to learn this type of skill while they are young, and it can help them along the way in life. This is one of the benefits of coding for students.
Understanding computers and learning the basics of coding helps children to develop an appreciation of how things work. Our world has so many problems that need solving ranging from garbage recycling to accurate weather patterns.
Because coding is easy to pick up, for children especially, confidence comes easily. When children learn how to code it gives them the opportunity to be confident and create something in a fun and exciting way.
Computer code is a way to describe reality — like English or any other language. A programming language, just like any natural language, has its own grammar and syntactic rules. Thus, learning to code is very much like learning a second language and provides many of the same advantages.
Children learning code will need to take a vague idea and use their creativity to turn it something effective. If the first solution doesn’t work, they try another one. If that one doesn’t work, they try again until the problem is solved. Coding helps to develop this way of thinking and these types of thinking skills are highly sought after.
Coding is one of the few creative venues that results in truly interactive works — and there is nothing more exciting for kids than interacting with their own creations. This serves as an excellent supplement to other creative venues, giving kids another way to bring their artistic ideas to life. Taking a mental image and giving it form in the real world is the very heart of creativity. That’s why we say we are not creating coders rather creators that can take a dream and turn it into reality. This is Why should everyone learn to code.
Learning code teaches kids computational thinking — the process of breaking down complicated tasks into individual steps (like loops, conditionals, etc.) that a computer can understand. This is the same process used to break down complex arguments and is a pillar of logical thinking. The more kids practice coding, the better their logic skills will become.
Math skills can often feel abstract and hard to grasp. This is particularly true as a student enters high school-level mathematics, a transition that many of us have struggled with. Coding projects can make math concepts feel more real.
When you look at how the world is developing, coding is an extremely useful skill to possess. There are an increasing number of businesses who rely on computer code, not just those in the technology sector. The ability to cope with failure is a vital life skill. Through coding, kids learn that failure is a stepping stone, not an ending. Recovering from a misstep happens quickly with coding. The process is less frustrating because students can try several solutions quickly. Coding skills are indicators of digital literacy — a necessity in this digital age! Even just an hour of code through hands-on coding projects can teach kids the importance of persistence and resilience.
Computer programming projects give exciting results, that you can see right in front of your eyes. Your child can build stand-alone projects like an animated animal face drawing, or even their own video game design from their imagination. Learnings from these projects such as what are algorithms, coding a website, how to make a game will eventually turn the coder inside you into a creator.
Individually, each of these is a strong reason for your student to learn coding. When combined, they make coding one of the most valuable skills for young kids in the 21st century! A lot of people think coding is hard when it is not. Rather it’s one of most interesting and playful things a child can learn and foster thoughts from ideating to publishing for public usage.
Finally, we can’t end this list without mentioning careers. Coding skills are indicators of digital literacy — a necessity in this digital age and the reason why should everyone learn to code! Nearly 50% of all jobs require some coding skills.
Finding resources on how do you get coding skills, where to start coding, Which coding language should i learn first? What is coding used for can be hard.
AlphaJunior is here to help as well. We offer a range of private online coding classes for kids ages 8-18 that gives students solid foundations in computer science, logical thinking, and even creative subjects like website design. Every student is matched with an expert instructor who’ll be their personal guide into the world of coding.
Check out our coding curriculum or contact our admissions team to jump-start your student’s future today! Over the past several years, the advent of online courses and guided coding projects has made the process much easier.