As we gear up for our After School Coding Clubs once again, we want to take a minute, or two, to acknowledge the power that coding clubs have on our students. In today’s society, no matter where you live, having computer literacy and knowing how to code at least one language opens up a lot of doors for kids when they eventually go off into the workforce. On top of hard skills, kids can also work on their soft skills in a coding club setting. Here are some of the benefits of having a coding club at your child’s school.
Creativity Can Come From Coding Lessons
Every child has the ability to be creative and use their imagination in a way that adults can’t even fathom. Learning to code helps implant creativity in your child’s brain, where it remains accessible for the rest of your child’s life. At a coding club, your child has the ability to experiment when presented with a task such as making a whole video game or making an AI car move exactly the way they want it to. Your child also builds “whole-brain thinking” that links the artsy right brain with the technology- and logic-oriented left side. When you put the two together, children learn to turn brainstorming into reality.
Coding Requires Computational Thinking
Computational thinking is what comes before you start programming. Essentially, it’s the process of breaking down a problem into simple enough steps that a computer would understand. When you code, you need to have some type of computational thinking before you jump into your code. Computers do as they’re told, so if your instructions are vague the computer will give an evenly vague result. Coding clubs are great to teach kids to think through issues step by step, which is something you need to have in computers and in the real wold, and an instructor can be there to encourage them when they get stuck during the process. Computational thinking breaks down an action into even smaller steps, making achievement of the goal a matter of managing each segment.
Coding Clubs are Great for Building Collaboration Skills
Now more than ever, kids are encouraged to collaborate and work in teams, because businesses thrive and grow if their employees generate innovative ideas, which you more than likely can’t do alone. Coding clubs bring kids together to solve problems, share ideas, encourage each other through mistakes, and applaud for each other’s successes.
Coding in Different Age Groups
As children grow up, learning to code offers different levels of skill-building that make it fun and engaging.
Elementary Grades: Many experts say that the best time for learning a new language, whether that’s French of Scratch, is in early childhood. Since they soak up information like sponges, young kids have the capabilities to understand multi-step commands, follow logic and distinguish fantasy from reality.
Middle School Grades: By middle school, kids should be ready to take on the task of typed code targeting more specific tasks. They learn to use different coding languages as they apply logic to figuring out multitudes of problems. Learning increasingly complex coding at this stage helps keep them interested in computer science and how it applies in the real world.
High School Grades: According to a variety of studies done, students who study computer science typically perform better in other areas of study. They are also shown to be excellent problem-solvers. High school students who know coding are more than likely equipped to build personalized websites and apps, understand the impact of computers and technology on society, and prepare for careers in a variety of fields, from health care and science to language and the arts.
Find a Coding Club Near You!
Interested in getting your child involved in a coding club? See if a coding club is offered at your school or outside of your school. You might also want to try virtual coding clubs, such as our free Bits N’ Bytes Virtual Club that’s opened to all students. Coding clubs should be a great way to introduce your child to computational thinking, show them how creative they can be with code, find peers to help work on projects with, and overall give them the confidence to know that they can code too.