It is no secret to anyone that programming today has become one of the most important sciences and professions that is witnessing an increasing demand in the market, and it is expected that the demand for it will increase in the coming years by more than a million and a half jobs that produce and require those with expertise in the fields of programming.
He reports that working as a software developer is one of the most demanded jobs in the American labor market, for example. "The demand for software developers is expected to increase by 17 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is faster than average for all professions, and the main reason for this rapid growth is the increased demand for computer software," says the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This is what leads us to the importance of teaching programming to children, not only performing a possible job required in the future but also an educational methodology that develops awareness and develops sound thinking methodologies.
Programming in its correct sense and its impact on children
Programming was not a new language. It appeared more than fifty years ago. Programming by its general definition is dealing with the machine’s low-level language to a high-level language that reads and understands a person through the presence of an interpreter working to convert it from human language to machine language that the computer understands.
Programming is simply a term that refers to a set of skills that students can use for their future careers in a world that suffers from a lack of skilled programmers. Programming can help students in their other subjects as well, such as improving some skills such as perseverance and problem-solving in addition to mastering reading and writing skills.
Programming learning relies on providing electronic games that greatly help children develop mind skills and develop their intelligence to help them think in a logical way to accelerate the learning and development process.
The child learns at a young age faster, so if we care about incorporating learning to programming in the daily life of the child, he will be able to master it in the shortest time, which helps him to become familiar with the most important rules and principles of programming early. There is no best educational stage in a person’s life from childhood, as it is a stage of initiative, preparation, and guidance for the child to gradually absorb it through his learning of programming through educational applications with a goal.
The most important reasons that will motivate you to teach your child programming:
- Increasing the demand for programming skills in current and future jobs; Technology industry is in constant need of workers, and it is not limited to programmers or major disciplines in computer science - it needs graphic designers, software developers, computer engineers, linguists, mathematicians, and others, and technology jobs are not only plentiful but also profitable.
- The child can decode the encoded data and how to properly encode the information.
- It helps the child and his exercise to use the principles of logical thinking to analyze all things around him, in addition to helping him to solve math equations, which develops his intelligence and mental skills.
- The child learns the logical arrangement of cause and effect.
- It helps him to master problem-solving techniques.
- Help him to be creative; By learning a programming language, a child can create his own video game, website, or application on his own.
- Enables him to divide the big tasks and ideas into small and specific tasks.
- Enhances the process of cooperation and participation with others.
- Help him to endure criticism and identify errors and fix them.
- Help him learn to persevere in order to face difficulties and challenges.
- Programming provides a competitive advantage when applying to colleges or some jobs.
- Learning to program is a critical skill for life; Even if a child wants to do something outside of computer science when he grows up, his programming skills will undoubtedly benefit him in all areas, programming teaches problem solving, organization, mathematics, storytelling, design, and more! Perhaps the most important highlight of the magnificence of programming is that it is useful in various aspects of life and allows children to express themselves creatively.
With so many industries increasingly dependent on technology, today's students need to prepare for the next generation of workers in the world. Unfortunately, programming is not widespread in most curricula, especially on a regular basis.
Starting with the importance of teaching children the science of programming, and the scarcity of teaching programming for children in schools, the International Organization.org Code.org appeared in 2013 to establish a non-profit project aimed at spreading and financing access to computer science education in schools for each student, to organize an annual programming hour campaign and present the most widespread curriculum To teach all computer science in schools at all levels of education, through the initiative of many volunteers to provide courses and translate lessons to communicate the idea of learning computer science, programming, and programming to all countries of the world.
The best programming languages in the world that suit children stage
There are many programming languages, so experts have explained a set of programming languages appropriate for a child's learning to programming at an early age, the most important of which are:
Scratch is one of the most visually appealing programming languages for kids on the list, but the real reason why it really stands out is the freedom of expression it gives students, as the whole idea behind it was to simplify the process of creating animations, design games, and build interactive stories so that anyone Literally doing it from the ground up, children feel like real game designers using Scratch, and even older beginners can create simple, totally custom games in minutes.
Scratch also has a large online community with over 15 million registered users from every corner of the world and anyone can become a member of, as long as it complies with the friendly and respectful rules laid down by the MIT Scratch team.
What Scratch adds mainly to children is an understanding of programming, that is, how things are done, or to convey a programming philosophy, and this is very important.
Python is another easy-to-learn programming language that has some really useful features for a beginner programmer; It is easy to read codes when compared to other programming languages, in addition to that it contains some features that greatly increase the learning process and allow you to create simple animations to create your games.
JavaScript is a great choice for kids because almost everything now works on this programming language. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer - all of these browsers use JavaScript. If your kids master this specific language, they will learn how to convert simple web documents into amazing interactive applications and games.
But that's not all since JavaScript is not only about creating web pages, you can run it on web servers to create completely new websites, or even use them to control other types of devices, like robots.
JavaScript usually comes as a top-level skill for kids who already have some programming experience in Scratch or Python. It is usually recommended for children over 10 years old, but we have seen children as young as 8 years develop games using JavaScript tracks.
JavaScript is primarily the web language and is an excellent programming language for students who are willing to script.
Unity is a popular game engine that can teach kids how to program while creating professional-quality games, as it is a game developer developed via an open-source platform and scripts can be written in C # which is very similar to Java.
C # is a powerful program and can be used for almost anything. Of course, it has its own strengths, thanks to .NET support, C # has become the first choice for every developer to create Windows desktop applications.
The most important sources for teaching child programming
Now that we know the most important programming languages, it is necessary to refer to some sources that allow the child to learn programming with ease through a set of courses or through direct application on some sites.
Let's start with the most popular sites that offer video training courses to learn to program, the most important of which are:
KhanAcademy Academy: offers computer programming courses that help you learn how to program graphics, animations, and games using JavaScript and Processing JS, or learn how to create web pages using HTML & CSS.
CodeAcademy: Provides step-by-step instructional stages to learn to program in the WYSIWYG editor.
Tynker: Another website that provides self-paced courses for kids to learn the basics of programming with games and their website recommends use for kids from 7 to 14 years old; There are a lot of paid courses, as well as a few free courses on their Hour of Code website.
As for the good books in the field, which are in English, the most famous of them are: Hello World (computer programming for kids and other beginners), Teach your kids to code, and Coding games in Scratch.
There are also many applications that help children learn to program step by step, perhaps the most famous and best:
Programming can also be learned through games. Perhaps the most popular useful games for this purpose are Cozmo Robot, Code-a-Pillar, and Cubetto
Now, after we looked at the most important resources and applications that help the child to learn programming with ease, we must define the first actual starting steps:
Parents must choose a suitable trainer to help the child choose a programming language that is appropriate for them to start learning right away.
- We recommend that you start by learning Scratch programming language for younger children and graduating with Python language for older ones.
Reading books alone is not enough. Training and practice show effective educational results for the child.
- Let the child learn by himself and do not rush to press the keyboard or click a menu, you can help him by pointing on the screen with your fingers, the child needs to apply and practice with his hand.
Do not pressure the child in the event he does not want to complete the coding operations he is doing while you are teaching him, but be flexible and give him time to learn with more fun and humor.
Finally: the order to prepare a child to cope with the digital revolution and learn coding is no longer a luxury or an exclusive matter limited to a specific class or segment, but rather a necessity such as learning to read, write and calculate, or at least; Like teaching your child a new spoken language like English, or the skill of playing an instrument or driving a vehicle.
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