How learning to code benefits kids

Wherever you look, coding is exploding! Hence, it’s a great time 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.

Experience a top-notch curriculum and faculty

Founded by MIT alumnus Foo Yong Ning, the academy’s award-winning MIT-inspired curriculum places a huge emphasis on inquiry-based learning and challenging children as they develop problem-solving skills. Techy kids can look forward to a whole host of skills from game design and app creation to combining all their knowledge about maths, science and code into their very own programmes. Coding Lab’s instructors are highly qualified, with certified backgrounds in computing and mathematics. They hail from top universities and trained in Coding Lab’s unique curriculum. 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.

Prepare your little ones for the tech-centric future

Little ones aged four to six can enrol in the Junior Coders Programme. Specially tailored to have minimal screen time, they’ll learn coding through fun interactive activities. These include   coding scenes from iconic childhood stories like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In fact, Coding Lab’s curriculum is specially tailored for young children by a parent herself, as Director Candice Wang created the curriculum with her own daughter in mind back then. This curriculum is designed to build a solid head start in computational thinking, through fun activities like programming robots to change colours and creating their own stories.

Seven to nine year olds will proceed to learn Scratch, a visual programming language. Kids will design their own interactive stories and Maple Story-like games, topping it off with a personal project of their own. This culminates in the Young Computer Scientists programme where they’ll apply concepts of coding to up to 12 other research areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics. They can look forward to racing one another in a robot race, or even create their own takes on Pokemon Go and Angry Bird. The possibilities are endless!

With a solid foundation in coding logic, kids aged 10 to 12 will try their hand at creating functional mobile apps such as a Countdown Timer or a Racing Game with add-ons such as Voice-to-Speech features and GPS trackers. These classes will take them through App Development, introduce them to technologies such as the Micro:Bit and give them their first taste of Python. The icing on top is the exposure they get to the intricacies of UI/UX (User Interface and User Experience) design, which is a fast expanding field. They’ll learn what makes apps like TikTok and Instagram work, and maybe even go on to create the next trending app! Coding Lab students have also been lucky enough to present their apps at the MIT App Inventor Global Summit, clinching the second prize.

For teens aged 13 to 18, the next step is to pick up syntax-based programming with Python, arguably the most popular coding language in the world currently. They’ll begin with an introduction to the basic syntax and functions available, before proceeding to choose a specialisation that suits their interests. Areas to choose from include rising topics like game programming, artificial intelligence, modelling and simulations and data analytics.

Hear from #studentswhocode

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 (19), scholarship recipient, University of Texas-Austin (Computer Engineering)

“It was Coding Lab that sparked my interest in coding. I took my first steps in Python, a 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 – Bukit Timah, Parkway Parade, online and The Grassroots Club (holiday camps only)
6528 2282 | codinglab.com.sg | FB/IG/Youtube: @CodingLabAsia

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