September is here and a new school year has just begun, which means it is also time to return to routines and start new activities that fill our day to day because we have chosen them ourselves and we like to spend time doing so. That’s why when school starts, it’s also the time to choose the extracurricular activities our children will do during the school year and look for an option that suits their interests and needs.
In recent years, coding after-school programs have gained popularity among the youngest, who are increasingly aware that their relationship with technology can go far beyond being consumers in front of screens. Programming is starting to be introduced in schools and the use of educational tools such as Scratch or App Inventor presents children and adolescents with the opportunity to become creators and shape their own ideas to create video games, animations or mobile apps. In the same vein, educational robotics also helps them work on their STEAM skills in a playful way.
If your children are interested in the world of computing and technology, the best way to delve into it today is with a programming extracurricular activity, which not only helps them learn the most important skill of the 21st century, but at the same time facilitates the acquisition of transversal skills that are essential for personal development, such as creativity, communication or teamwork. At the end of the day, the most important thing at these ages is not learning to code, a technical skill that will certainly be an added value for their future, but everything that comes with doing it: learning to code means learning to think because it is the best way to develop computational thinking, which brings a whole series of advantages for everyday life.
Computational thinking is the ability to solve problems of any kind, not just those related to programming. Computer programmers are used to apply techniques such as decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction or algorithmic design, but all these techniques can be applied to any other field: it is easier to solve a problem if we break it down into smaller problems, if we recognize some parts of them that we have seen before and if we are able to identify what is really important and can separate it from other details. Learning programming is the best way to develop this type of thinking, and therefore it is not about learning specific knowledge, but about acquiring skills and competences that last over time and are useful to face any challenge.
Thus, with an after-school program like Codelearn, children who have an interest in technology have fun while learning programming video games, control robots or create mobile apps, while their families see it as well as an educational activity which is very important both in terms of the technical knowledge acquired there and their children’s personal development. Problem solving, imagination and creativity, teamwork, communication, improved self-esteem, critical thinking or improved performance in other school subjects are just some of the benefits of the adventure of learning to code. If you want to receive more information about the Codelearn method, please don’t hesitate to contact us.