Coding For Kids Made Easy: How This Software Engineer is Transforming The Way Coding is Being Taught
Building a start-up with a strong vision
SEMBAWANG, SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / December 14, 2021 / Children hate schools. They lament the long school hours and memory work, only to regurgitate these information during tests and exams. If that's the case, is there a better way to get kids all excited and ramped up about learning, and to take it to the next level - learning coding for kids?
Image Credit: CodeSmarter
Gilbert Zhuo, 24 years old, has developed a novel strategy to get children excited about coding without ruining the learning process. This is performed via a gamified platform that utilises visual aids and animations to appeal to the creative minds of children.
Image Credit: https://www.CodeSmarter.io
"Children are imaginative. They want to make things happen and let their ideas run wild!" With this vision, programming platforms that are viewed as revolutionary, are behind the curve when it comes to educating children.
Most coding schools advertised for kids teach material which has no real practical usage. For example, the Scratch programming platform uses a drag-and-drop feature. It is interactive and visually appealing, but these skills are not transferable to more sophisticated platforms such as Python and Javascript. With a desire for more interactive coding programs with a focus on practical skill sets, Gilbert developed his own interactive coding platform to implement his strategy to teach children.
Overcoming challenges
Building a start-up with zero entrepreneurial knowledge was tough. There were mental blocks in devising an effective program with a limited budget. Thankfully, Gilbert has managed to amass a group of like-minded individuals who share the same vision. It was as if the stars had aligned, and there was every opportunity to bring this idea to reality.
Upon investing S$2,000 into the start-up, pilot classes were rolled out for a total of three months to assess the students' interest. These classes were offered to those between the age of 7 to 16.
There was strong interest in the program and it garnered massive interest through word-of-mouth. However, Gilbert and his team felt that more exposure was necessary to help parents understand the importance of coding at a young age. They relentlessly marketed their services by distributing flyers on weekends, creating referral systems and even forming a coding club on Telegram. Within a month, Gilbert managed to recover the initial S$2,000 investment from the growing interest in his coding classes.
Image Credit: CodeSmarter
The business was set-up during the time of Covid-19 uncertainty. Singapore had introduced an island-wide lockdown and tightening of safe-distancing measures amid the rise in infected cases. As a result, Gilbert and his team had considered transitioning the business from physical to online classes. Unfortunately, the lessons required constant guidance to cater to the varying difficulties of each students' needs. In addition, online classes would reduce classroom engagement, which would in turn compromise on the interactive learning process.
Initial success
Image Credit: CodeSmarter
Combining visual learning and gamification, Gilbert and his team have managed to uncover the secret ingredient to continuously engage students in the learning process.
Students who had prior experiences in other coding schools have reportedly complained about mundane lessons. For them, lumping lines of codes one after the other easily leads to disinterest. Their perspective of fun makes them learn differently from adults. With this understanding, Gilbert's initial programme was an absolute success. And he wasn't thinking of stopping here.
As the Christmas season is arriving, students will be building a digital piano that plays the Christmas carol - Jingle Bells, as part of the web-development class. This taps into a child's reward mechanism by instilling the fulfilment of creating a musical piece. Gilbert hopes that students will treat this creation as a little trophy, to be revisited every Christmas to remind them of the possibilities of turning their ideas into reality.
Image Credit: CodeSmarter
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SOURCE: CodeSmarter
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