TechSake

Scratch + Google = Next Generation of Programming Blocks for Kids By the MIT Scratch Team

No matter what the career path is, the benefit of computer science extends far beyond coding for every student. In the coming years, programming will be taught just like reading and writing... And the world would be wondering why we didn't do it sooner!

Student Voices: Why all kids need to learn computer science The biggest reward of learning computer science for Issaquah student Hallie Chen was computational thinking, or breaking down problems into segments to solve one at a time. The benefits of computer science extend far beyond coding for any student, she...

Problem-solving skills are almost unanimously the most important qualification required in all engineering discplines. Various fields of computer programming tell the same story - as more than programming languages proficiency, debugging, and system design - having problem-solving skills is a path to a good programming career.

Demonstrating computational thinking or the ability to break down large, complex problems is just as valuable (if not more so) than the baseline technical skills required for a programming job.

Software startup companies have a hybrid need, which is a blend of good problem-solving skills, and knowledge of language along with framework - since they need to launch products quickly, and frameworks help developers to write features faster. On the other hand, large software companies mostly care about problem-solving skills.

If these trends are to be believed - does our education system also care enough about developing such abilities in the young minds? If we happened to have such a hypothetical system, then students would be
rewarded for trying out things and failing fast, allowing them to inculcate problem-solving abilities in any given domain.

In this modern era, technology literacy is one of the most important skills that we can give our children. For kids coding and computer programming are skill sets that not only encourage great critical thinking skills, but also are highly desired in the workforce, later in their lives.

Hence it's necessary to give the youth an early start on learning useful technology skills. But how do we get started if we aren’t computer programmers ourselves?

One of the first concepts that early coders learn is what an algorithm is. An algorithm is a set of instructions given to a computer in order to execute a task. We use algorithms every day! When we get dressed we first put on our shirt, and then our pants, and then our socks. These are everyday algorithms at work!