Top 5 Benefits of Coding for Children
Coding is a 21st-century ability that one should not be without. Coding is beneficial not just to adults, but also to youngsters.
Coding is for today’s children what mastering many languages was for previous generations. You had to learn English, especially if it wasn’t your first language, to be able to go practically any place in the world, as well as for practical reasons like comprehending foreign popular culture and navigating the internet well. It was a talent required for educational purposes, better employment opportunities, developing technical abilities, and networking – whether in a professional or informal capacity.
While knowing English is still crucial, coding for children has replaced it as an essential ability. Surprisingly, it is for the exact same reasons. It is beneficial for both educational and professional reasons, since it substantially increases one’s technical skills as well as awareness of technology, and it aids in networking.
So, what exactly is coding?
People may imagine square-headed IT guys with thick glasses coding in their basements, isolated from the outer world and lacking in social skills. But that’s simply a ridiculous stereotype. Coding is the magicthat allows you to scroll through your phone and send texts with the tip of your finger. Coding is also what allows all of your home gadgets to function according to your preferences. It’s your automobile warning you that another vehicle is too close to you, your alarm clock waking you up in the morning, your electric toothbrush washing your teeth with different settings, and even your coffee maker brewing your morning coffee to your tastes.
You click a button, and a smart device brings it to you. Coding is the system that permits all of these devices to work while you interact with them. It holds our world together and allows us to rely more on technology’s functioning rather than executing those mundane repetitive duties ourselves. However, we usually only see the end result, or what we receive after the code has been designed, tested, and implemented. But how does one go about creating code? How does one go about creating the magical component that allows the world to function as it does?
The simplest approach to explain coding is to compare it to a cookbook. A recipe is a set of rules that must be followed in a specified order and amount to achieve a given result. Consider each step to be a command. 300g flour, eggs, and milk, combine, place in oven, and bake at 200 degrees Celsius. You can change and edit the individual processes significantly, but the end result should be a cake. Like such, code allows us to operate technology rather than bake cakes.
What exactly is computational thinking?
The concept of ‘computational thinking’ is a more complex method of describing the process under coding. Computational thinking is a problem-solving approach influenced by how computers solve problems, and it essentially captures the reasoning underlying coding in general. We’ve previously detailed it in depth on our blog, so check it out if you want to learn more. To summarize, the concept accepts that computers are particularly adept at breaking down difficult problems into smaller pieces that are easier to swallow than the entire meal.
This approach consists of four steps: decomposition, pattern identification, abstraction, and algorithm creation. Every difficulty is made up of smaller subcomponents, and by understanding these, we can avoid becoming overwhelmed by an apparently complex task. When we approach the individual subcomponents and discover a pattern among them, we can begin to treat the entire issue in an united manner. It is an analytical strategy that necessitates profound immersion in a situation as well as empathy and creativity to examine the various outcomes. As such, the concept can be used in a variety of areas other than technology.
5 Reasons Why Coding Is Essential for Today’s Children
After discussing the thought-processes coding involves and the methods it promotes, here is a brief description of why coding is a valuable asset to cultivate since childhood.
Coding for youngsters has multidisciplinary applications.
Coding for kids is wonderful for educating young minds to be better at arithmetic (due to the logic-based approach) and training crucial life skills, such as attention to detail (one erroneous sign and the whole code stops working), self-reliance (finding a solution on their own), and patience. It can take hours or days to design and construct the proper code, but the end result is always worth the wait!
It stimulates children’s inventiveness.
Coding, like the language example we gave at the beginning of this piece, is similar to learning a new language. After all, it is a language. Every time we learn a new language, we strengthen our linguistic, expressive, and creative abilities. A language is a new paradigm that allows us to see the world through different lenses.
Furthermore, coding allows youngsters to express themselves creatively in a way that no other language does. Most other languages do not allow you to develop robots, technology components, or smart gadgets, do they?
Coding gives children a huge future job potential.
We’ve stated it before, but it bears emphasizing again. If they haven’t already, computer technology and smart devices will become ubiquitous in our lives. Automated processes regulated by coding will be required at every stage, and will most certainly pervade every field and discipline imaginable. (There is even artificial intelligence that composes music, in case you thought creative fields were exempt!)
Regardless of this reality, education has yet to catch up to develop the necessary number of coding professionals. On the employment market, there is a significant need for professional coding specialists, yet the majority of required coding roles are vacant, accounting for about 2.4 million unfilled STEM jobs as of 2018. Coding occupations are even in the top ten highest-paying and most secure jobs. Coding positions will only grow in number over time, so someone with a strong coding experience may be confident that they’ll always have work opportunities to pick from.
Coding provides youngsters a sense of independence.
Seeing one’s own creation come to life is a tremendously empowering experience. One thing is clear when this design is made of technology: by creating it, children have learned that technology is not daunting or necessarily complicated. Instead, it’s all built on the same principles kids learn in coding classes. By realizing that individuals can contribute to the development of technology rather than simply consume it, their attitude toward technological products and solutions will gradually shift to one of greater comprehension and confidence.
A coding-savvy child is less likely to become frustrated when confronted with a simple technological barrier (for example, being unable to turn on the newest gadget at home), but will most likely put their talent to good use and at least attempt to fix their problem.
Coding may provide children with hours of entertainment.
If you’re concerned about your children’s relationship with technology, fueled by dystopian movies and a general dread of the unknown, coding is an excellent method to alleviate that anxiety. It introduces youngsters to technology on a more creative and collaborative level, transforming it into simply another tool that can be utilized to achieve specific goals. Technology (including coding) is merely a means to an end.
What better method to learn than through play and enjoyment? The earliest coding lessons for youngsters are designed to be fun. They’re open-ended, collaborative, and creative, and they’ll keep your child occupied for hours.
How can children learn to code?
Now that we’ve established the argument for teaching coding to youngsters, let’s get down to business. How do we educate them?
Don’t be concerned if you have no coding experience. Because of how elastic and open their brains are in their formative years, children can easily outgrow us in many things. To learn the logic of coding, you can even start with free, DIY tools that don’t require a screen. Then, progress to app-based coding, ideally using a combination of physical tools and apps. Sphero is one such instrument that teaches youngsters as young as five years old through their adolescence to code at various levels of complexity.
Perhaps the most crucial lesson to teach kids and to remember when they’re taught to code is to not be afraid. It is a completely new skill, one that opens up a whole new world to them, one that involves a lot of indiscernible lines and commands that you might not even be able to read, let alone understand, but it all begins with the sheer power of will to learn something new, to allow one’s mind to be fascinated, and to accept a new challenge. Fortunately, this comes easily to children, so don’t be afraid of it!
