What other skills are improved when kids learn programming? - by Gabor Gurics
Tibor Kiss
MBA, (National) Sales Director, (International) Business Development Manager, Key Account Management, Sales Growth, Customer Satisfaction, Solution Sales
Within a few years programming knowledge will become as important as learning to communicate in a foreign language. During our courses we would like to provide everything that is needed in order to acquire the knowledge of future. But what other things can be influenced positively if children learn to code at Logiscool?
Algorithmic thinking - During programming the step-by-step solving of different tasks often contains repetition and different conditions. The identification as well as the finding and application of appropriate solutions to these patterns can lead to the developing of a new form of thinking. Algorithmic thinking is a problem solving skill, that is not only useful in case of programming, but can also be helpful during the creative solutions of real life, everyday problems.
Problem solving and tolerance of failure - it is a basic thesis that there is no code without a bug, therefore one who learns to code is going to make mistakes, lots of mistakes. During the courses we highly emphasize for the kids that making mistakes should not be identified with personal failure, but it should rather be considered as an opportunity to learn from it. Programming and in general being creative is only possible if one is not afraid of making mistakes, dares to try to walk new paths and does not give up whenever facing difficulties.
Self-confidence and motivation - Together with our trainers we are working week-by-week that at the end of the day all our students leave with a positive feeling of achievement. We experience during the courses that the self-confidence and motivation of kids is growing steadily from being able to solve more and more complex programs, and from the fact that they acquire skills, which their peers but mostly even adults do not possess.
Mathematics and complex thinking - It is not a secret, that during programming we often use the help of mathematics. However, it does not mean that programming suits only those who are very good in math. Programming rather helps to understand abstract mathematical concepts, through real and graphic visual examples. During programming the continuous application and practicing of mathematics knowledge acquired from the school can also have positive influence on the school grades.
Perseverance and concentration - Kids attending the courses of Logiscool are mainly working on creating games, but the process requires continuous concentration and attention. The seemingly simple programs as the end result, contain hundreds of instructions and several hours of work behind their operations. As kids learn to make more elaborate games, they also spend more time to find and fix complex problems/bugs, thereby it can further develop their perseverance and concentration skills.
Precision – In the process of making a computer game kids must give precise and unequivocal commands to the computer, in the appropriate order. In the written program languages one missing comma or misspelled command can lead to the computer not understanding what we want from it and our program not working.
Creativity - Coding is fundamentally a creative activity, as the same problem can be solved in many different ways. The are good, better and even better solutions, that is why we encourage the kids to try new solutions, dare to find new paths. In our education platform creativity is also induced by the hundreds of available characters and backgrounds, which can help the kids to make their own games even more unique.
Analytical thinking - Most of the times we can state that: the bigger the task/problem is we are facing, the harder the convincing ourselves to start working on the solution. Besides programming, kids also learn at Logiscool how they should break down complex problems to smaller, more easily analyzable and solvable sub-tasks.
Planning and implementation - A programmer does not only “work”, whenever sitting on front of the computer writing codes. For solving the increasingly complex problems, the search and planning of possible answers is continuous, and all those possibilities can be implemented and tested until the correct solution is found.
Self-assurance and presentation skills - In today’s world it is not enough to be able to create something good, you need to able to present it as well. In the project lessons of our courses kids present their most precious work of the semester not only to each other, but also to the audience consisting of the parents. The acknowledging applause of the adults and the proud glimpse of their parents is going to accompany them throughout their life and becomes a major benefit in similar situations (overcoming stage fright).
You can join our fall courses for a few more weeks! Before joining all kids and their families are welcome to our free intro classes at our open house events, where children can take part in the fun program and prepare their first computer game. In the other room we explain everything related to our courses to the parents. We are going to talk about why coding is as important as mathematics or language learning, what skills are improved during the learning and what the fun-based education means.