The purpose of this blog is to inform our audience about the demand for young minds who know how to code, especially as our world continues to advance in technology.
As parents we can constantly struggle with juggling all the balls of our kids schooling including homework as well as extra-curricular activities.
During the current circumstances of having to think about social distancing in an after school setting, a zoom after school activity may be a good fit for your family.
So how do you choose what’s important for your child during this pandemic time and beyond and why is kids' learning code just as important as other extra-curricular activities? Let’s take a look.
Kids Coding Teaches Valuable Lessons for the Future
It’s great for your child to participate in sporting activities, and these are extremely important for their health as well as social and emotional development, but kids learning code is just as important. The reason for this is that coding teaches valuable transferable skills that are in desperate need in the workforce out there when they leave school. Coding is the new literacy and doesn’t just teach kids computer languages but it helps them to think critically, solve problems and enhances creative thinking skills, all essential skills for their futures.
Help them to Develop their Identities and Self-Esteem
Kids coding gives them the opportunity to develop their identities and self-esteem too by allowing them to be creative and gain immediate gratification from their input which in turn gives them a good old boost of self-esteem, helping them feel good about their efforts and what they’ve created.
Kids become more Collaborative Workers
There’s no doubt that when entering the workforce you need to be able to work collaboratively with peers, and kids learning code teaches them the essential skill of working together to create amazing games, apps and much more. When kids are learning code they work side-by-side with instructors and other kids in order to see their creations come to life.
Improves Interaction Skills
When kids are learning code they are improving their interaction skills. Interaction skills are important as it helps kids to make new friends and in some cases as their interaction skills improve they can even stop being bullied at school. Interaction skills are critical for preparing kids for the future.
Improves Contribution in Class
As kids become more confident in their abilities when learning code, this magically helps them in the classroom. They can see their creations come to life and this improves their self-confidence. You might find that your meek and mild child starts to contribute a whole lot more in the classroom environment as they feel more confident within themselves.
Improves Levels of Commitment
One of the skills that are important for tomorrow’s leaders is the ability to commit to something and stick to it. When kids learn to code, they will learn the art of commitment and stick to what they are doing, and not just give up as it is so engaging. As they are getting immediate gratification this encourages a level of commitment that will set them up for their futures.
Helps with College Applications
Kids learning code is the new literacy, as we’ve discussed before and having this in their college applications will give them a competitive advantage. There is a supply and demand challenge with programmers, and it is believed that by the year 2020 1 million jobs in coding won’t be fulfilled, so now is the time to get them to learn this all important skill. Not only does kids learning code help with programming jobs, but the skills they learn will be relevant across most jobs in the future.
As we’ve discussed the benefits of extra-curricular activities, especially coding, goes beyond the process of secondary school, but rather enables students to gain knowledge and develop skills that allow them to gain knowledge in specific areas which inevitably shapes their further development. Coding develops social, emotional, and intellectual development.
Virtual After School Classes are a good fit during a Pandemic
Going virtual may be a better option to minimize the risk in an after school setting. We can teach a class remotely at your school, or your group can meet once they get home and log onto zoom with a coding instructor.
Questions?
Contact Me via Email: fernando@happycodeclub.com
