These days, more and more parents are looking for apps, resources, and coding programs for kids. Teaching children how to code is not an easy task, since programming requires effort and a lot of perseverance. Therefore, the most important thing is to get children and adolescents to see programming as a fun activity. We have to awaken their interest and the best way to do it at these ages is through gamification, which allows us to turn learning into a playful activity.
Programming books for children are not popular anymore, although they are a good complement as an offline resource, and nowadays the network is filling with games and interactive applications to learn to code. Most of these resources are very visual and attractive, which makes them a perfect tool to attract children’s attention and introduce them to the world of programming. They are a good way of letting them try a new activity without being really aware of what they are doing and how useful it is.
However, these types of programs and apps tend to focus on learning one programming language, either an educational language or a “real” one such as Python, or they may even use only visual block programming, following the style from the popular Scratch. This involves several drawbacks. On the one hand, any programming language or program can become obsolete or stop being used, so learning it mechanically without internalizing the basics of programming may be a problem one day. On the other hand, at such an early age it is not about learning to program so that all children become programmers, but about giving them tools so that they can learn to solve problems of any kind, whatever their future.
In this sense, Codelearn focus on working on computational thinking, which is the ability to learn to learn, and which allows us to be able to solve complex problems by dividing them into simpler problems. Decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithmic design are problem-solving techniques and skills that can be acquired through learning programming, but they are also useful far beyond the world of computer science. Our main mission is to prepare youngers so that they can always face any personal, academic or professional challenge.
To help them developing computational thinking, a team of professionals from the IT world and the pedagogical world have developed a unique method and a long-term curriculum that allows children and adolescents to learn programming languages, reinforce mathematics and logic, enhance their creativity and be able to work both independently and as a team with other students. And all this by making sure that it is a fun experience which motivates children and respects their needs in terms of dedication time, with flexible hours and permanent access to the platform; their ease of learning new things, so that each student sets their own pace, and the level of autonomy they prefer, so they always have an assigned mentor available.
Contents are not only presented following a logical sequence, but they are also included in a magic universe. Codelearn has a universe with its own characters, who live adventures and need help from students, who become another hero. Kids are participants in this story and are also rewarded every time they overcome a coding challenge —obtaining points, leveling up, unlocking access to new adventures and acquiring objects and avatars in the online platform store, as if it were a video game, but always with a pedagogical plan and the same path for everyone.
Join our universe now and try it free for 15 days!