Category Archives: Coding Education

Coding Education

How Election Season Demonstrates the Need for Coding Education

If there is a big takeaway from election season, it’s that substance is severely lacking, even amongst those who consider themselves informed. This is especially problematic because if adults can’t be counted to dig beneath the surface and truly explore the mechanics of their political system and justify their choices with more than catch phrases and canned arguments about likeability that don’t address policy, how can we expect the youth who take after them to do the same with their studies.

What does this have to do with coding? Everything actually. Coding requires substantive and creative thinking. It requires understanding how things work and being able to think deeply on your feet.

In addition to this, coding also offers plenty of opportunity for people to build lucrative careers as the nation and the world moves to a more digitized age. If adults aren’t doing their jobs, then it is clear that the only hope is the children and those that can educate them to appreciate what things like coding have to offer.

If you don’t want to take this author’s word for it, listen to a successful CEO. Yahoo News provides this insight in a recent article titled “This CEO says every kid needs to study coding.” Rick Newman of Yahoo News writes, “Accenture, the large consulting firm, has partnered with Code.org, the nonprofit that promotes better computer science education, especially among women and minorities. But that leaves many individuals out of the technology loop. When asked if every student today ought to study coding, Sweet says, ‘Absolutely. Not because they all need to be computer scientists, but because coding is a basic skill required to be digitally fluent.’ There’s a big gap, however, between the skills companies want and the skills schools teach. Sweet cites research showing 92% of jobs today require some degree of digital fluency. Yet coding is not taught at all in many high schools, and those that do teach it often offer just one course. Virtually all of the young workers Accenture hires are digitally aware, Sweet says, ‘but not all are digitally savvy.’”

At CodeRev Kids, we provide the immersive coding education that prepares your child for success as an adult. Our customized curriculum is geared to keep your child engaged while he/she learns the ins and outs of computational thinking.

Don’t miss out on this fun and educational opportunity. Sign up for one of our classes today!

Coding Education, Skills

Coding to Detect Hidden Explosives

 

When we talk about coding, the conversation is often abstract. We talk about available jobs but we don’t put a face on these employment opportunities. IHS Electronics 360 takes a look at one of these opportunities in a recent article titled “Computers and Coding Skills Can Help Detect Hidden Explosives.”

Nicollette Emmino of IHS Electronics 360 writes, “Traditional mass spectrometers are quite large, about the size of an oven, which makes them hard to use outside of a laboratory. However the Duke researchers have now figured out how to implement a technology called ‘coded aperture’ in order to shrink the devices and make them usable in the field to detect environmental or safety hazards. ‘In a typical mass spectrometer, the charged molecules pass through a thin slit, which defines your resolution,’ says Jeff Glass, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. ‘When you try to shrink the instrument, you have to shrink the slit too. That means the number of ions (charged molecules) passing through is going to drop and you’re going to lose signal intensity. We got around this issue by using several slits, which code the ions.’ The key to making it work is knowing the pattern (code) of the array of apertures. The team worked with fellow engineers to implement the coding and computational aspects necessary. ‘This idea was actually mentioned in a short article from 1970,’ said Jason Amsden, a research scientist and manager of the project. ‘But nobody since then has had all the parts to put it together.’ Now the team is testing its coded aperture technology on different versions of mass spectrometers to see which versions will be best when scaled down for mobile use. The team members are also working to show the devices have potential applications in detecting trace amounts of methane to spot leaks in infrastructure and various explosives to prevent terror attempts. The technology can also have a more immediate impact in research laboratories around the world due to its higher resolution capabilities, an asset for medical applications.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education, Education

The Robot Coding Teacher?

Everyone is looking for the best way to impart coding education on kids. Obviously, there is no substitute for quality mentoring. Nonetheless, new innovations are helping to fill in the gaps for people throughout the world. Consider a recent article for Yahoo News titled “A robot to teach kids coding.”

Ben Gruber of Yahoo News writes, “A robot named Root has been developed to expose kids of all ages to coding in a way that brings the often daunting world of computer science to life. Root looks like a smoke detector but is actually a sophisticated robot. A magnetic surface, wheels, and an impressive arsenal of sensors allow it to navigate a classroom whiteboard. But Root isn’t actually programed to do anything. Its tasks and functionality hinge on a child’s imagination. The robot is capable of driving and drawing as well as playing music, but Root needs instructions to operate, a line of code. Zivthan Dubrovsky of Harvard’s Wyss Institute recalls testing out Root with kids for the first time. ‘If you ask kids can you make a text based java script line follower? They go ‘no that’s hard, can’t do that’, but we can put level one in front of them and they can do it in minutes,’ he said. Using a tablet wirelessly connected to the robot, level one introduces kids to the principles of programing using an interface of simple commands and pictures. As they become more adept, they jump to levels 2 and 3, at which point writing computer code becomes second nature, according to Dubrovsky. He says getting kids interested in the abstract world of programming isn’t easy, but thinks Root can help with that. ‘We are not trying to create a fun toy where you are just making a racing game. We are going to figure out how to make the racing game and that is going to be a lot of work, a lot of perhaps negative energy. But then there is so much positive energy at the end that it is worth the effort,’ he added.”

If you are looking for the best in customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education, Skills

Is Learning Coding as Important as a Second Language?

While they are in the minority, there are some people out there that still don’t see the value in coding. However, others are debating whether or not it’s more important than learning a second language. Consider a recent article for the Shorthorn titled “Column: Coding is as valuable as a second language.”

Alex Purcell of the Shorthorn writes, “Computer coding covers the basics for fueling the revolution of computers and cell phones. And it’s something everyone should learn how to do. It’s redundant, but it bears need for emphasis: technology impacts every person. No matter what profession or lifestyle, it’ll find it’s way into everyone’s world. Technology embodies life in the 21st century. We need to learn about how it works. We need to learn about how technology survives and how it fails by learning to code. Computer coding is a way into the depths of the world around us. Software itself is becoming a universal language connected to the inner workings of our society. If we want to learn how to speak with the machines that surround us, we should have a basic knowledge about coding. Coding helps with finding jobs. Zach Sims, co-founder of Codecademy, says in a Time article that efficiency can be discovered by learning to code. ‘It creates higher-level job opportunities for un- and underemployed young people, some of whom will go on to found their own companies,’ he says. Not only could you start a breakthrough company, but pre-existing corporations are increasingly desperate to keep technology in their businesses. People who know how to program are crucial for an enterprise to compete and can quickly secure a place in the top tier of potential employees. Even if you don’t want to code for the rest of your life, there’s still use for it. Basic coding knowledge helps with grasping the automation that makes everyday life easier. It’s naive to be deaf to the current language of our world.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

Coding Summit Brings Great Minds Together

Coding jobs are sitting, unfilled all throughout the country. Events like coding summits are working to bring people together to solve that problem and fill those jobs. Consider a recent article for the Wyoming Business Report titled “Green House to send two to coding summit.”

The author of the article writes, “At Governor Matt Mead’s fourth annual Broadband Summit in November, many Wyoming entrepreneurs and business leaders brought up the lack of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education in the community. Now, just a few months later, somebody is doing something more than talk about that lack. To support STEM for the next generation, Green House Data is offering two full-ride scholarships for two Wyoming 10- to 12-year-olds to a week-long, sleep-away code camp at the University of Denver next summer. ‘More than just a 21st century job skill, learning a coding language at a young age helps teach kids to analyze and to think critically,’ said Green House Data CEO Shawn Mills. ‘We see an enormous amount of talent among Wyoming’s young people, and exposure to the languages that make technology tick will help them excel in the future. ‘Like other skills—and languages—starting young means a better shot at mastery.’ At the camp, which will run June 12 through 17, students will learn object-oriented programming concepts with JavaScript, ‘one of the most power and popular programming languages for interactive websites, apps, and applications’ a release said. The curriculum is customized for beginner to intermediate learners, is delivered in small student clusters and is individually tailored to each student. There are no prerequisites and no prior knowledge of coding or programming languages is required. The scholarship covers full tuition, room and board and round-trip transportation from Cheyenne. Any child who is a resident of the state is eligible to apply.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

Young Refugees Take Skills to Another Level at Coding Academy

For a group of refugees in Arizona, coding is impacting their lives significantly. Consider a recent article for AZCentral titled “Coding Academy teaches young refugees computer programming skills.”

Chloe Nordquist of AZCentral writes, “Eager students gathered for a day long ‘refugee coding academy’ at Seed Spot, a business incubator that buzzed with energy. Students as young as seven typed away on laptops as area tech professionals gave them hands on training in basic coding skills. ‘I thought it would be cool to have another experience with my friends and get to learn something,’ a 7th grader Haneen Elshishtawy said. She is from Egypt, but has spent most of her life in the United States. Computer and information technology occupations are projected to grow 12% from 2014 to 2024 adding about 488,500 new jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local tech startup founders, students, and volunteers organized the event to help young refugees in Arizona prepare for new job opportunities. ‘Were trying to teach refugees how to code for the opportunity to kind of include them to build the future,’ said Omron Blauo, project manager for the coding academy. ‘They’re kind of excluded and we think that giving them that opportunity to learn about technology is an amazing thing.’ The students spent the day learning how to code a game similar to Flappy Bird. While they only learned the basics, the goal of the academy was to spark interesting in pursuing coding in their academic careers that could later lead to better paying jobs. ‘It’s a new experience for me. I haven’t really done coding before,’ 15-year-old Samah Mohamed said. Mohamed grew up in Kenya and moved to the United States five years ago. ‘It’s really amazing how women can get this opportunity,’ she said. ‘It’s hard to get jobs. it’s hard to go to school. It’s hard to actually get money [in Kenya]. But here the economy is really good,’ said Mohammed.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education, Skills

Young Professional Using Coding to Double Salary in a Year

A coding career can be life changing. Black Enterprise explores this in a recent article titled “How Coding Helped This Young Professional Double Her Salary in One Year.”

Courtney Connley of Black Enterprise writes, “As a high school student who enjoyed HTML and CSS coding, Jayana Johnson discovered her love for tech at an early age but had no clue how to establish a career within the industry. After dropping out of Long Island University as a broadcast major, she went back to the drawing board on what she wanted to do professionally and eventually landed a job as an events coordinator forCitigroup. After eight months at the company, Johnson then went to work as an assistant in the tech department at Weber Shandwick, and it was there that she solidified her decision to get more involved in tech. Now, as a UX Designer for MasterCard, the 27-year-old shares how coding school helped her to double her annual salary to $100,000 in just one year… It’s definitely something I was always interested in, but it was always just an interest and not something I pursued or was told there was a possibility to have a career in. I never saw anyone who looked like me that was doing what I wanted to do. I didn’t even know how to go about it until later on in life. Now, it’s easier to ask about programs instead of going to a four-year university and having to spend so much money… What I do is a little bit different than what most of my peers do. One of the reasons I wanted to go with MasterCard is because not only do I do Web design, but I also do user experience design, including front-end development… Other skills, besides actual tangible skills, are soft skills in terms of being able to network, because a lot of this has to do with who you know at the end of the day. So just getting yourself out there and becoming a part of the community and being involved not only in taking in the skills but giving back a lot. People will get to know you, find out what you’re about, and be willing to help you.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

How Coding is Affecting Arts Careers

Coding goes beyond just the computer. It is influencing the art world as well. Consider a recent article for the Huffington Post titled “Picasso Was Wrong: How coding is leading the future of arts related careers.”

The author of the article writes, “Pablo Picasso, in one of his more famous quotes said ‘Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up.’ But Picasso did not envision a future where tech and coding would be so prevalent and important. A large number of these types of jobs require computer science skills in equal part to arts. In these jobs you can stay as an artist, using technology as your canvas and Javascript, Python, and other computer languages as your paint. It is a medium that Picasso never envisioned, and it is allowing practical, tech-tistic innovations previously unknown. Without creativity, technology would not be usable. In our previous blog post,we wrote about STEAM learning (science, technology, engineering, arts and math, which was previously STEM), and how STEAM initiatives are widely accepted as building the skills of the future. STEAM skills will be necessary for a large number of the jobs in the coming years, even in jobs that have historically been non-technical. The US Department of education reports that the number of STEM jobs in the United States will grow by 14% from 2010 to 2020, growth that the Bureau of Labor Statistics terms as ‘much faster’ than the national average of 5-8% across all job sectors. This means that a lot of future jobs will need to be filled with a workforce that is educated in STEAM. These employees with need to have both technical and artistic skills. These STEAM careers that combine technical and art skills are already all around us! Brands like Nike,Samsung and Google commission programmers to create marketing publicity installations.”

If you are looking for a quality, customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

The Secret to Why Coding Computer Game Courses are So Successful

The best learning experiences are the ones where students have fun in the process. Consider a recent article for the Florida Times-Union titled “Coding computer games class is not all fun and games.”

Denise Smith Amos of the Florida Times-Union writes, “The Duval County School Board will vote next month on whether to change Andrew Jackson High into a technology magnet, which would offer computer coding and gaming among other career options. And Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said last month he plans to introduce computer coding next year into elementary school curriculum. Duval so far has taught coding through video game design at Kirby-Smith Middle School, a science, technology, engineering, arts and math magnet. There James Vail, a former natural science educator, teaches several coding languages as students build video games. It’s an elective nearly every student takes, he said, and some take multiple classes, using several languages. In a given semester he may have 240 students in six classes, or an average of 40 students per class. On a recent Thursday, his eighth-graders were finishing newly created two-player video games, using their imaginations, knowledge of coding and a few prods from Vail. Luke Underwood, who Vail said is one of the more advanced students, used a commercial grade programming language to create a game featuring a spaceman walking up inclines while dodging deadly dots from a green fish. Earlier he created an ‘Old MacDonald HAD a Farm’ game, where tanks shoot at cows and elephants fleeing a barn. His classmate Oscar Vargas used a different advanced language to touch up a Capture the Flag game. Both students say they want to master 3-D modeling and animation. Vail told Vargas: ‘This is commercial-level stuff. If you get good at this, there’s a job for you.’ Recently Florida legislators endorsed bills to let schools count coding as a foreign language, but the measure passed in the Senate and died in the House. Across the country, schools are being encouraged to add computer science classes, including coding. It’s needed if graduates will be ready for tomorrow’s careers, some experts say.”

If you’re looking for the best in hands-on, customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

How an Engineer Father is Closing the Coding Gap in Utah

Improving the coding capabilities of America’s youth is a top priority. These are the jobs of the future and in many cases, these are also the jobs of the present. Consider a recent article for KSL titled “Father, engineer runs coding camp to help Utahns hone high-tech skills.”

Carrie Rogers-Whitehead of KSL writes, “Pat Wright, a father and engineer, was at a meeting in 2006 when someone asked: ‘Does someone want to put on a conference for coding?’ Even though he had never done such a thing, Wright raised his hand and said, ‘I’ll help put it on.’ That simple action started a chain of events for Wright that has impacted many. Wright started with small coding camps for professionals through his job at MaritzCX, which led to Digiforge, a youth technology conference. He has been the chairman of Digiforge the last two years. Digiforge is aimed at helping high school students in school districts in the Salt Lake Valley. It has been running for almost a decade and is put on by the Wasatch Front South Consortium, educators, professionals in the tech community and dedicated volunteers. The Digiforge conference was held again last Wednesday, March 16, at Salt Lake Community College’s South City campus. Over 500 teens attended keynote and professional presentations on topics such as big data, graphic design, video game programming, 3-D animation and coding. Jana Davis, programs coordinator of SpyHop Productions and one of Digiforge’s organizers, said, ‘The professionals giving tracks are giving a real world outlook of what other jobs are out there — teens get introduced to other positions that they might not be aware of.’ When the students attend these presentations, they don’t only learn about the topic, but all the work that goes in to create their favorite games or the apps and tools they use every day.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!