Tag Archives: coderev kids

There Are Many Ways to Teach Kids Problem-Solving Skills

At CodeREV, we believe it’s important to teach kids how to solve problems. While sometimes it’s important to give them the right answer, most of the time they’re going to learn a lot more if they discover how to actually solve the problem on their own. There are a lot of ways to give them these valuable skills, as evidenced in a recent article in Teacher Magazine titled Developing problem-solving skills.

Jo Earp writes, “When Teacher shares examples of how evidence is being used to inform future action it’s usually educators who are doing the analysis and reflection, but in this case it’s students who’ve been digging into school data while developing their problem-solving skills. The Year 5 and 6 students at Sydney’s Curran Public School have been taking part in the Future Problem Solving Program. ‘Originally, when we started, it was just an idea of trying to build some social conscience and some commitment to the community within my kids,’ Principal Michael Strahan explains. They ended up representing Australia at the international finals in the US, placing third.

Under the guidance of ‘team coach’ Kylie Ring, the youngsters competed in the community problem-solving category and narrowed down their focus to education. Their project was called Kids Helping Kids and aimed to support early years transition. Strahan takes up the story again: ‘It was all about giving kids who are going to come to the school the fundamentals and the foundations to succeed and put them on a pathway to success. The [team of students] sat down with teachers and analysed the entry data that kids were coming into school with. … They did some research and [thought about] the best possible way of making an impact, then developed a plan and put that plan into action.’

Part of the plan was to create care packages that were distributed to pre-Kindergarten students and their families that contained resources to support early learning. The first care package included resources like pencils, pens and tracing cards. Strahan says the new starters and their parents loved the fact they were getting a box from Curran Public School to help them prepare, but adds the real strength of the project for the 12 members of the competition team was what happened next.

‘They then did a comparison analysis against what the kids came into school with this year after distributing the first package, celebrated some successes in the kids’ improvement but also found where there were areas of need and then plugged those up, so it was really evidence-based.’”

This is truly an innovative way to get kids excited about problem solving. At CodeREV we have a series of classes and camps that are designed specifically to show kids that they already have the skills they need, they just need to learn to hone them.

Interest in STEM Camps Grows Around the Country

There’s no shortage of kids interested in attending STEM camps. We see it year after year at CodeREV kids, but other areas of the country are seeing the same results. The Newark Advocate recently published an article titled Nearly 170 kids attend Newark school’s first STEM camp that tells the story of one camp’s incredible success.

Maria DeVito writes, “Jesse Freeman and Jacob Brechbill spent an hour coloring together last week. But they weren’t drawing just any picture. The two programmed a small robot to follow a path they had drawn with markers. The robot registers colors and will perform actions such as stopping, speeding up or turning around when it goes over certain hues.

“I had no clue this was even a thing,” said Jesse, an 11-year-old who will be entering sixth grade. “I’m not a big fan of coloring, but this is awesome.” Jesse and Jacob, a 10-year-old who will be a fifth-grader, both had limited experience with robots, but programming was new to them. “I don’t think I’d ever be able to have an experience like that ever,” Jesse said. “This is the first time that I’ve been able to play around with robotics, play around with color coding, and I think it’s just amazing.”

Jesse and Jacob were two of nearly 170 fourth- through ninth-grade students who participated in Newark’s first STEM camp last week, which focused on science, technology, engineering and math. The five-day camp’s theme was amusement parks; students designed carnival games and rides, learned coding, and worked with 3-D printers and circuits.

Rebecca Holloway, a seventh-grade science and pre-engineering teacher at Liberty Middle School, said it was amazing to watch the students throughout the week. “I love how they just take the challenge and they go,” she said. She has always taught middle school kids and was nervous to work with the fourth- through sixth-grade students, but her fears were unwarranted.

“I’ve been amazed at how they’re able to really plan things out. They’re taking the challenge. They’re going along with it,” she said of the younger students. “It excites me about what’s going to come up my way.” Maura Horgan, Newark’s director of curriculum and staff development, said the district provides camps for boys and girls basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports and wanted to offer a STEM camp as well. The camp was free to students, who also were provided a free lunch and transportation if needed. Because of the camp’s success in its first year, Horgan said the district will do it next year as well. Teaches have already started brainstorming about what they can do to improve the camp.”

Our experience at CodeREV has been incredibly similar. The kids who come to our summer camps, after-school classes, or any of our other offerings, are excited about science – some for the first time. Is your kid ready to join us?

Kansas City Understands the Importance of After-School Programs

There are many reasons after-school programs are so important for kids: they keep them off the street, they teach them valuable skills, and they give kids a sense of belonging. Based on a recent article on Kansas City’s KCUR, it appears the mayor of that fine city understands how important they are.

In an article titled Mayor Sly James Stresses Importance Of After-School And Summer Programs For Kids, Lisa Rodriguez writes, “Kansas City Mayor Sly James joined city leaders and educators from Missouri and Kansas Saturday at the Kauffman Foundation for the Municipal Summit on Afterschool and Expanded Learning to discuss the importance of after-school and summer programs for students. James says once students are out of school for the summer, there’s not always a lot for them to do — which he says puts them at risk for participating in dangerous activities.

James said across Missouri and Kansas, only 14 percent of school-aged kids participate in after-school events. “What are the other 86 percent doing? I will guarantee you that not all of the 86 percent are engaged in helping ladies across the street or carrying groceries out of stores… some of them are engaged in some pretty risky behaviors,” James says. As he welcomed the room full of city mayors, council people and education advocates, James praised programs like Mayor’s Nights and Turn The Page that he says keep young people safe and provide them with positive role models.

He says research shows getting more young people involved could reduce crime and keep them safer. “When our kids are involved in our summer programming, juvenile crime and juvenile victimization is down 18 percent,” James says. Joining James in leading the summit was Leawood, Kansas Mayor Peggy Dunn, who echoed many of James’ sentiments. “Research shows that if there were more opportunities, the youth would engage, they would be part of those,” Dunn says. She said she hoped that by hearing initiatives from other cities, everyone could come away with several ideas for summer and after-school programming.

The Municipal Summit on Afterschool and Expanded Learning is part of a series of summits hosted by the National League of Cities. They aim to connect leaders across the region so they can develop partnerships and build collaborative after-school systems.”

CodeREV believes strongly in the importance of both after-school activities and summer camps, which is why we’ve revolutionized them. Get in touch with us to learn more about how your kids can get involved.

Why Are We Pitting Coding Against Foreign Languages?

Education as a whole is in a crisis in this country. Throughout the globe, other countries are racing past us, especially in the areas of math and science. This has led to the necessary push for more coding education.

In Silicon Valley, one entrepreneur is taking this to the “Hunger Games” level. Consider a recent article for TakePart titled “Can the ‘Hunger Games’ of Coding Solve America’s Tech Worker Shortage?” Joseph Williams of TakePart writes, “It seems like the perfect solution to a national crisis: At a time when the United States needs a million computer science graduates within the decade—and college costs are spiraling upward—a French telecom billionaire is about to open a state-of-the-art, tuition-free computer coding academy in the heart of Silicon Valley. The innovative school, simply called 42, doesn’t care about secondary school grades or SAT scores and provides free dorms for up to 300 low-income students. Although it has a goal of educating 10,000 coders over the next five years, 42 won’t have faculty or a syllabus, but it will have classrooms stocked with the latest Apple computers.”

In other cases, there are arguments for whether coding should count as a second language. While making coding a necessity is a good idea, we have an obligation to prepare our students for a globalized economy. Part of being able to succeed in a globalized economy is providing our children with all the tools to communicate and collaborate with people from all throughout the world. For the most part, these future partners come from different backgrounds and life experiences. One of the best ways to create a path for communication is being able to speak other languages. Why would we want to replace that skill when we could invest in both?

In many cases, this means investing in programs outside of the school system where children can receive mentorship from qualified, experienced teachers. If you’re looking for the best of these programs, CodeRev Kids is the place for you. At CodeRev Kids, we offer customized coding education that focuses on computational thinking. Our programs allow students to engage in robotics, website creation, and app making.

In addition to offering immersive coding programs, we also put an emphasis on having fun. As a result, our students stay engaged while they learn.

If this sounds like the place for your child, sign up for one of our classes today!

Coding Coming to the Aid of the Homeless

While it would be easy to dismiss coding as the trendy thing right now and more of a buzzword than a solution, the reality is that it is one of the great equalizers. Coding jobs are the future for many, and they could solve some of the problems of the present for a number of people throughout the country.

One of these major, epidemic level issues is the homeless crisis. From city to city, state to state, more and more people are finding themselves living in shelters, couch surfing, and even on the street because they don’t have any other options. While it is certainly important that we need to provide more resources to serve this growing problem, that is ultimately a survival strategy. It addresses the immediate needs. The real question is, how do we help people move forward and reverse this horrible trend?

Coding could be the answer for some. WCVB takes a look at this in a recent article titled “Boston homeless shelter empowering teenage girls through coding.” The author of the article writes, “A homeless shelter in Boston is empowering its teenage girls in an unprecedented way: by teaching them how to code. During the past school year, a dozen or so girls have been coming together one night a week to take coding classes in the humble basement of Brookview House, a homeless shelter and affordable housing complex in the Dorchester Center neighborhood of Boston. The girls, ages 13 to 18, learn how to code small programs, apps and video games in Scratch and Python, according to Deborah Hughes, the shelter’s executive director. She explained that all the girls in the club are either homeless or at risk of homelessness. ‘We decided to start this club two years ago because we believe in all the beautiful possibilities for these girls,’ Hughes told ABC News Wednesday. ‘We know getting girls into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field is a challenge, but we know what are girls are capable of and that they can overcome any challenges.’”

If you are looking to help others gain coding skills, the first step is to gain that knowledge yourself. The best way to do this is to start young.

At CodeRev Kids, we offer customized coding education for youth. Our programs include robotics, app making, and website creation. Get your child signed up as soon as possible so he/she can learn and have fun in one of our many exciting programs!