It’s no secret that coding is the future when it comes to employment opportunities. Some schools throughout the country are taking this more serious than others. Consider a recent article for the Gazette titled “Coding making its way into local curriculum as critical skill for future workforce.”
The author of the article writes, “According to whitehouse.gov, it’s estimated that by 2018, 51 percent of all science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs will be in a computer science-related field, which is why on Jan. 30, President Barack Obama unveiled the ‘computer science for all’ initiative, which commits $4 billion to expanding access to computer science for elementary and middle school teachers and students across the nation. ‘In this generation, just having some idea of how things work on a computer is really valuable,’ said Hannah Buettner, an AmeriCorps member who led a free four-week workshop at the Cedar Rapids Public Library in January that taught kids the basics of coding using a children’s book called ‘Hello Ruby’ — the library will offer the same program again beginning March 1. Knowing how computers work makes kids ‘literate in a world where we’re surrounded by technology,’ agreed Matt Wilkinson, whose 6-year-old son participated in the workshop. Even without a computer, Buettner taught kids as young as 5 years old how to problem solve, recognize patterns and learn from their failures using activities in the book, she said. ‘People might seem shocked that a 5-year-old can learn the fundamentals of programming, (but) I don’t think it’s really age-based,’ said David Tominsky, the lead mentor at Imagination Iowa, a prekindergarten through 12th grade STEM program that encourages creativity, fosters entrepreneurship and helps kids learn to code. ‘A lot of people think they need to be in middle school and high school to work on critical thinking skills, but any kid can do anything you put in front of them if you give them the support they need,’ Hamilton agreed.”
When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.
Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.