What Makes the Coding Courses at WhiteHat Jr both Accessible and Advanced

It is human nature to contemplate the future and aspire to build a better tomorrow. In today’s age, understanding technological trends are the equivalent of peeking into the near future and an imperative step in the quest to keep up with an ever-evolving world.?

Consider the “Internet of Things,” a phenomenon that would have been termed esoteric a decade ago. But here we are, with this revolutionary system transforming everything from the way Indian retailers imagine their stores to self-driving cars being deployed in the United States as we write this blog for you.?

At WhiteHat Jr, we strive to prepare children for a future defined by technology. We introduce these wonders to them in an accessible way, so that they understand the technology and become aware of both its advantages and limitations.

Bringing futuristic concepts to a student’s learning desk requires vision, insight, and unwavering passion. And this is where we struck gold with Abhijeet Gawande, Senior Vice-President of Curriculum, Coding & New Initiatives at WhiteHat Jr.?

Laying the Foundation

Abhijeet’s curiosity and passion for tech is complemented by his experience as an educator. He is a Wolfram Certified Instructor, one of the few tech experts from India to get certified in the scientific programming language.?

Abhijeet was only days away from heading to Kazakhstan to head a computer science department when in 2018, WhiteHat Jr Founder Karan Bajaj reached out to him. He shared a novel idea about teaching coding to children online and making them creators of technology. This resonated with Abhijeet’s own vision for the future.?

“I wanted to build STEM labs for children around the globe, making them as accessible as a mall or a gaming zone. Imagine a child dropping into one of these labs, building something for an hour, and heading back home,” he says. The concepts behind both the ideas are similar—first-principles thinking, learning by doing and tinkering. That made Abhijeet the perfect fit as the third employee of the company.

Now, four years into the company, his vision is transforming how we teach kids to code. “The most advanced computational thinking curriculum in the world that works!” says a proud Abhijeet with a stress on the ‘works’ part. He gives us an insight into his process that made this possible while emphasizing the need to be an eternal learner. “I research the latest concepts thoroughly and pick out ones that I think will impact the future. Then I break them down to their basics, and restructure it for children to engage with,” he explains.?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the first module that Abhijeet built into the course. As a ‘Master Artificial Intelligence Trainer’ from Wolfram Foundation, it is his area of expertise. He next introduced seven futuristic curriculum modules, of which six are already part of our classes. Children around the world actively engage with these modules that encompass self-driving cars, blockchain, cloud computing, data science, Python GUI, and the Internet of Things. His seventh idea—quantum computing—is in the pipeline.??

Students in the Driving Seat

“I want children to be able to engage with the latest trends in tech research so that when they step out into the world, they do that with creativity, and an air of familiarity,” says Abhijeet. Before a child virtually programs a self-driving car at WhiteHat Jr to go from point A to B using Python, they drive it a few times using a simulator, like in a video game. This creates a neural network for the virtual vehicle to learn from. Through a combination of play and coding, the child is essentially applying self-driving technology principles.?

Abhijeet and his team wanted the module to be simple enough for students, but authentic at the same time. They went for a simplified version of a vehicle simulator, which is used by actual car companies and requires heavy graphics so that it could work on any ordinary laptop while ensuring authenticity.?

The same philosophy extends to the AI module. “The curriculum lets students build things with Google’s open-source Machine Learning platform Tensorflow,” says Abhijeet. “Initially, we only introduced a few image-related Tensorflow neural networks for students, thinking they would find it complicated. But students found the AI terrain fascinating and wanted more, so speech and text-based neural networks were added.” They are now tinkering with AI to create things like touchless DJ systems and gesture-controlled Games. “We simplify it for kids by presenting the complex code required for AI in the form of a story. But everything else—from the idea to the front-end features—is coded by the students,” says Abhijeet.?

The Larger Picture

Abhijeet’s idea behind course design is a three-step vision. Students are first introduced to coding basics. The second phase is exploring by doing—building apps, games, etc. Finally, comes specialization, where students are able to see what interests them after exploring the terrain and creating some real-world outcomes in that field.

The last four years have been all about foundation and exploration and now it’s time to usher in the next phase of specialization. Abhijeet hints at this being a collaborative phase, with students working in tandem with educators. “Students reach out saying they want to build their own maps for the self-driving cars module. That’s incredible!” This is an exciting step in developing a future of conscious creators that WhiteHat Jr has always envisioned.