The digital age and the intervention of technology has made coding or programming a must for students to learn. It has become very important for students to understand and work around basic coding languages. Coding is no more just a skill required for professionals, who wish to make a career in information technology. Education professionals too have understood the vitality of teaching programming computer languages to their students. Earlier, basic coding (languages like C, C++, Foxpro etc.) were taught to students of class 11 & 12. Fundamentals of computers used to be taught to the students of class 6 & above. In these times of online education, many school students are taking online coding classes from the comfort of their home.
Things have changed in past few years. Students are excited about coding. They want to experiment with different coding languages. That is why during lockdown, students have begun to take online tuition classes to learn programming.
The best coding teachers at e-Tuitions have listed down top 5 reasons, why students should learn to code.
1. Helps in creativity
Coding helps students in developing their creative skills. Many find it difficult to understand that how can a bunch of alphabets, numbers & symbols build creativity. When a child begins his/ her lessons in a programming language, he/ she has to build things from scratch. For example, one has to make an animated object, which requires a student to think how a certain object looks like, is drawn & can be presented on the computer screen. This develops the thinking & creative skills of the students.
2. Teaches Collaboration
When children start being creative & building things, they seek feedback from teachers & classmates. This teaches them to start working in groups. The give & take of criticism helps the students, to absorb things in positive manner & builds their confidence. This is why many schools have incorporated coding in online classes for students. Teachers assign projects to students in groups, which includes things like, developing a small animation movie, presenting a science project using animation.
3. Coding is Fun
When a student of any class starts to learn coding, he/ she has to visualize objects on their own. If one starts to learn to build a game, then thinking about how the game will begin, what all characters the game will have, the possibilities of winning & losing a game, moving on to the next stage of the computer game, all this requires students to imagine various possibilities. When students do these activities in groups then, it becomes fun & exciting for them. Eventually, seeing your hard work being there on the display screens is very satisfying for students. It gives them a sense of accomplishment. The interest in coding among students has increased so much that, many online tuition websites have started providing online courses, to students of every age.
4. Teaches Consistency
Learning a new thing is always challenging for students. Learning a new programming language is both challenging & stimulating for a student’s brain. To complete a certain assignment, one has to have patience. Because a person is bound to get stuck at a certain problem. Many students tend to give up when they face such problems. In such a situation, it’s the responsibility of the teachers to encourage their pupils to not give up. When a student will persevere and analyse things to tackle a problem with a programme/ code, it will teach him to be consistent.
5. Creates Career Opportunities
Things are getting automated in every industry. It has become crucial to make the human – machine interaction efficient & easy. This is where programming languages come in handy. Hundreds and thousands of games, apps & websites are being developed every month. Hence, the demand for programmers & developers, who can work on various technologies, is more than ever.
So, learning coding languages right in the school days will provide students an edge, when they choose their career path. Being a software developer or making a career in any field of information technology would always be appealing.