Coding is exploding, so it’s a great activity to get the kids involved in whether it’s a workshop, summer camp or regular classes. Coding Lab caters for ages four to 18 years and makes learning fun through hands-on projects and activities including creating game apps and animated stories. Here’s why you should sign your kids up.
Curriculum and instructors
Founded by MIT alumnus Foo Yong Ning, the academy’s award-winning MIT-inspired curriculum places a huge emphasis on inquiry-based learning, challenging children as they develop problem-solving skills. Techy kids can look forward to everything from game design and app creation to understanding the link between maths, science and code. Coding Lab’s computer coding and programming classes and holiday camps are taught by qualified instructors with degrees and backgrounds in computing. Kids progress through various coding languages – Scratch Jr., Scratch, MIT App Inventor and Python, to name a few – and classes are split into age groups: four to six years, seven to nine, 10 to 12, and 13 to 18.
Coding classes
Little ones aged four to six can enrol in the Junior Coders Programme. They’ll learn coding through fun interactive activities including coding scenes from their favourite stories and programming a robot to change colours, building a solid head start in computational thinking with minimal screen time.
Designed for young ones who are new to coding, seven to nine year olds will proceed to learning Scratch, a visual programming language. Kids will design their own interactive stories, animations and games, topping it off with a unique personal project. This culminates with the Young Computer Scientists programme where they’ll apply concepts of coding to up to 12 other research areas such as science and mathematics.
After learning basic coding, kids aged 10 to 12 will try their hand at creating mobile apps such as a Countdown Timer or a Racing Game with add-ons such as Voice-to-Speech and GPS trackers. These classes will take them through App Development, Micro:Bit and Python and students will be exposed to the intricacies of UI/UX design.
The next step, for teens aged 13 to 18, is to pick up syntax-based programming with Python, one of the most popular coding languages in the world. They’ll begin with an introduction to the programme and proceed to choosing a specialisation that suits their interests. Areas on offer include game programming, artificial intelligence, modelling and simulations, and data analytics.
Hear from students
Jun Min (9), avid Scratcher and Math lover
“Coding is so interesting, and very tricky at the same time. I like being able to see the end result of my own creations and editing my code just the way I like it; this makes me feel like I have accomplished something all by myself. Being in the Gifted Coders programme also offers more difficult coding so this challenges me even more! My teachers at Coding Lab are very nice and patient and I always look forward to coding class.”
Dylan (11), Python whizz
“It was my mum who first noticed my interest in solving maths problems and suggested that I learn coding as it is similar in nature. I really enjoy my coding lessons at Coding Lab; the small class size allows me to ask questions freely and interact with the teacher. I enjoy building code as it makes me think and approach problems systematically. I’ve written a “Coin Sum” programme; when I input an amount of money, it generates the number of ways that it can be divided by, based on the denomination of the Singapore dollar. In school, learning coding has helped me in maths as it trains my mind to be logical and systematic.”
Surya Nayar (14), created a stock rating algorithm
“After attending Coding Lab’s masterclass on data analytics in December 2018, I wrote my own stock-rating algorithm. I first got the idea when a friend of my parents showed me a piece of software he used to trade stocks. It got me thinking about whether software could eventually replace human traders. During the workshop at Coding Lab, I saw how an analysis of tweets and newspaper headlines could give me a good overview of what the market felt about a particular company’s stock prices. I’m currently working to improve the project, including adding a graphical user interface and full forecasting.”
Sarah Go (17), awarded an Honourable Mention at the NOI after six months of learning programming
“It was Coding Lab that sparked my interest in coding. I took my first steps in Python programming language and fell in love with coding. I started out with the Python Meets Math course and I think it’s a great course for beginners like me. After you complete the course, you’ll have enough programming knowledge to read and understand code, pick up new techniques and explore things through coding. After six months of learning, I decided to try out the National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) in March 2018 as a personal challenge; I faced a steep learning curve, but I enjoyed every minute of it!”
Head to the Coding Lab website and find out more about the classes for kids aged four to six, seven to nine, 10 to 12, and 13 to 18.
Written in collaboration with Coding Lab:
Three locations islandwide ( Parkway Parade, Upper Bukit Timah and The Grassroots Club)
6528 2282 | codinglab.com.sg
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