The key way for children to learn new skills is through regular opportunities to practice. You don't learn to be a concert pianist by playing the piano for 20 minutes once a week!
With coding some children will naturally take what they learn and build their own projects to practice. But this can take a lot of time, and not all children will have the confidence to build a full coding project from scratch.
Apps like Duolingo have revolutionised the learning process for so many young learners (and adults!) The lessons can often be completed on a portable device wherever a child is, so they can fit into a busy lifestyle. They also encourage regular practice through streak counters that keep track of how many days in a row you have practiced. These factors mean they are particularly useful for home-educated children, or even to provide a boost to children in school.
But what about for coding? Are there quick and convenient ways to help children build their confidence and their skills in coding through apps that can help them regularly practice?
Brilliant
Brilliant.org is a website and a mobile app that offers short courses for a wide variety of engineering disciplines, such as mathematics, science and even computer science!
Some of the computer science courses Brilliant offers cover very abstract coding principles, and don't focus on the specific code needing to be written, instead focusing on the problem solving techniques needed. Others do focus on code directly, specifically Python, and let you choose the correct answers from a preselected list to write a program. They may not teach the specific nuance of writing code, but as an opportunity to regularly practice and reinforce existing skills it can be very beneficial.
The lessons are quite quick and don't require a lot of reading, so it could be thought that they would be great for younger children. However, while some children may get on fine with the mathematics courses, they may find the coding lessons hard without guidance. Because of this teenagers are probably the best audience for self-guided lessons with Brilliant.
The app is free to begin, but only allows you to do two lessons a day. You can upgrade to unlimited lessons a day with a Brilliant Premium subscription, which also adds Personalised Practice. The cost is at time of writing £15.99 a month, or £85.99 a year.
Encode
Encode is a mobile app that offers short coding lessons on a variety of subjects such as Python, web development and other useful computer science skills.
Encode features guided lessons that teach the concepts through both drag and drop questions and also guided written code sections. There is also a feature called Playgrounds where users can work on their own projects at their own pace. However using a mobile phone or tablet touchscreen keyboard to write code can be difficult! For the best experience, pairing it with a Bluetooth keyboard is recommended.
The app is marketed for a broad age range, but realistically the lessons require reading ability and the ability to follow text heavy instructions on a small screen. Some pre-teens may get on great with it, but it's probably most ideal for teenagers and above.
The app can be used for free with adverts, but with a "hearts" system to only allow so many lessons to be accomplished at once, as well as only two playgrounds to experiment with your own code. Encode Plus gives unlimited hearts, unlimited playgrounds, removes adverts and allows you to learn on a tablet without an internet connection for either £9.49 a month or £36.99 a year.
Swift Playgrounds
Swift Playgrounds is an iPad and Mac app that teaches the Swift programming language used by Apple for Mac and iOS apps. It is presented as a puzzle game where code is written to solve the cartoon styled puzzles. Once users become comfortable enough with the Swift language through the app, it can even be used to develop Apps for the Apple platforms.
Apple has designed Swift Playgrounds with younger learners in mind, so it would be suitable for children around 8 and up. It is designed with touchscreens in mind so can be easily used by younger children on an iPad.
The app is free, but is limited to only Apple devices and is only focused on an Apple specific programming language so any Windows or Android users are left out! However for any Apple users it is a useful resource to teach the principles of coding for the Apple ecosystem.
Tutor-Led Lessons
This is where tutor-led coding lessons can help! At Head Start Coding our Scratch and Python courses help young people learn to code in tutor-led group classes, whether your child is home-educated or in school!
Our experienced DBS checked tutors can answer their questions, help them overcome any hurdles and can tailor their approach for different age groups and levels of understanding - Something a self-guided app can't do!
To learn more about whether our courses are right for your child please take our short quiz here.
