There are only a few days left before the start of the 2024-2025 school year, which also means the return of after-school activities. This week, all Codelearn centers have reopened their doors after an August in which the programming after-school program remained active exclusively online. Both for adults and children, autumn is always a great time to discover new activities, and that’s why, even though Codelearn offers open enrollment year-round, September is one of the best times to join the adventure of learning to code.
Young creators prepared for the future
Computational thinking and programming are increasingly present in school classrooms due to the implementation of new Education laws over the last years. As a result, more and more children are discovering programming and all that they can do by acquiring this skill. It allows them to move from being mere technology consumers to becoming creators, turning their ideas into reality through website and app design, video game creation, robotics and electronics, artificial intelligence, and more.
Learning to code offers many cognitive benefits and is the best way to develop computational thinking, which is the ability to solve any kind of problem (not just those related to programming) through techniques like decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, or algorithmic design. Therefore, programming after-school activities not only help young people acquire a technical skill, but also teach them essential transversal competencies for their personal development. Through programming, students enhance their creativity, communication, teamwork, and, most importantly, problem-solving skills. In this way, learning to code is learning to think, and choosing an after-school program in programming and computational thinking like Codelearn is a future investment at both academic, professional, and personal levels.
A method designed for all ages
Learning to code requires effort and consistency. To tailor the programming learning experience to younger children and turn the activity into a motivating challenge, Codelearn has been using its own method for over a decade, combining gamification techniques and a detailed long-term study plan on its platform. The online platform presents content as adventures, following the stories of the Codelearn characters.
Each of these adventures corresponds to a programming language or other programs, and students must complete the previous adventures to unlock new ones, ensuring that all students follow the same order defined in the curriculum. The first adventures help them acquire basic knowledge through educational languages like Logo, Scratch, or Karel, and then they begin learning widely used professional languages and technologies, such as Python, Linux, Java, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, Unity, C ++, and many others.
Moreover, each time a student completes an exercise, they earn rewards in the form of points that can be exchanged for physical or digital prizes, character upgrades, or access to complementary adventures that personalize their platform experience. This reward system, similar to that used in some games, along with the adventure-themed curriculum, makes the Codelearn after-school program fun for younger kids (from age 7) as well as teenagers and young adults. If you want to discover the Codelearn method and online platform, contact any of our centers to receive more information about the after-school program and request a free trial class with no obligation.