Skills learned when learning coding go well beyond the obvious. We refer to it as 'code smart', which encompasses the whole breadth of skills developed by our students.
It has always been at the centre of codetoday's philosophy to teach not just the physical act of coding in Python, but also the coding mindset. Coding is almost unique as a learning journey as it teaches and develops so many valuable skills. As Steve Jobs put it
"Coding teaches you how to think"
This cuts right to the heart of our view of education in general where we favour teaching children what to think rather than how to think. However, as the world evolves and becomes more digital, it's plainly obvious that successful roles require the latter. After all, It is quite straightforward to program facts into a computer.
Being code smart isn't just about the future, the skills developed have an impact now. Coding has been shown to positively affect a number of academic subjects, particularly those where logic and process are important. Coding helps develop:
Problem solving
Being able to solve problems requires children to break the challenge down and understand how things work, applying logic to arrive at a solution. This is central to coding, starting with a required outcome and logically applying code in a creative manner to achieve the result in the most efficient way possible.
Resilience
It has become fashionable to have a growth mindset. We used to call this perseverance! But, it's a central premise in coding where failure is a key part of the process. Identifying mistakes and iterating a problem to get the desired outcome are a staple. Building up this resilience and treating failure as a learning exercise helps children to view failure in a much more positive way and utimately as an intrinsic part of the learning process in humans.
Coding teaches creativity
Unique and novel solutions to a problem stretch the creative muscles in all of our students. We often associate creativity with artistic endeavours. However, in the real world creativity is all about problem solving in unique and interesting ways, and this is true of coding too.
Coding is here to stay
The world is built on code. Code controls the machines, the phone in your pocket, Alexa on your bedside table. All technology that's emerging, new or commonplace, requires code. This is only set to increase as more jobs and sectors move to digital. Students that are code smart are being equipped to thrive in this world whether they become professional coders or not.
If you're interested in helping your child become code smart check out our upcoming courses this October half term.
