“The best part about teaching kids Coding the Impossible is being able to let our kids experience what it means to come up with an idea – no matter how crazy – and bring it to life on a screen.”

At Saturday Kids, our mission is to inspire kids to create a better future with technology. So what really gets us excited is creating new learning experiences that expand kids’ potential, challenge our ideas of what is possible, and build towards ambitiously meaningful outcomes. It’s that energy that drove the creation of Saturday Kids Greenhouse – our structured coding programmes for kids.

How might we design a fun, beginner-friendly learning experience with solid technical outcomes that gets kids excited about applying their skills and interests in a way that creates ripples beyond themselves?

When we started the ideation process for Coding the Impossible, our priority was to meet kids where they’re at. And while there’s not much we know with total certainty – we know that kids (big and little) love games, and that play is the best way to learn.

And that’s how CTI was born. Inspired by the games that have defined play and childhood over the years, the programme starts with kids learning to recreate and subsequently reinvent classic games, before going on to code their own social impact games aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Go behind the scenes of the programme as we hear from Rocket Launcher and Product Designer Vinitha, who shares her experience of designing and piloting Coding the Impossible.

Designing with a beginner’s mindset

“I graduated from university with a degree in Linguistics, and didn’t have much experience in tech education or coding. But I was very passionate about working with kids, and drawn to Saturday Kids’ take on education and learning – and I wanted to be a part of it. 

Learning to code was fascinating. Like our 7-10 year old kids, I started with Scratch. Learning to code was like learning a new language. 

I think that having first hand experience of what it might be like for my kids to learn coding for the the very first time is valuable, and actually allows me to design better curriculum.“

The power of learning through games

“While teaching the programme, I found that my students were video game enthusiasts. Being able to recreate games that they already know and love was pretty thrilling for them.

Designing a curriculum that allows them to have the space to be creative while learning something meaningful and fun is what I strive to achieve in the process of designing this curriculum.

“I’m inspired by my kids’ curiosity and their desire to learn.”

The best part about teaching kids Coding the Impossible is being able to let our kids experience what it means to come up with an idea – no matter how crazy – and bring it to life on a screen.” 

Using code to create ripples

“In the final module of Coding the Impossible, kids take game creation a step further to explore how games can be used for a greater good. We introduce them to the UN SDGs and to the idea of social impact games as a framework we refer to in each lesson, building towards a capstone project of coding a game for good.

“Ultimately, we want to show kids that a game can be so much more than a game – it can be a tool to create awareness about an issue that matters, and a medium for education.”

And just like anything they learn in school or outside the classroom, they can apply their skills and knowledge to make an impact that goes beyond themselves.”

Coding the Impossible: Foundations in Block-based Code is a year-long foundational coding programme inspiring kids ages 7-10 to design and develop impactful, fun-packed digital experiences through games. New intakes take place every term through Saturday Kids Greenhouse. Come find out what it means to play for the future at Saturday Kids, with code as our medium.

The post Behind the Scenes of Coding the Impossible: Games for Good appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

Leveraging design thinking, kids will learn to programme their own projects while developing an evolving understanding of their relationship with the technological world.

Curriculum developer Swe shares more.

In Back to Basics, kids don’t just learn how to programme with Python but about computational thinking. Computational thinking is quite the buzzword these days, but what is it really about?

“Learning computational thinking involves playful experimentation. Trying new things, tinkering with code or hardware, testing boundaries, taking risks, iterating again and again. We live in a world that is changing more rapidly than ever, and almost any form of success hinges on our ability to think and act creatively. That’s what computational thinking help you with.

Today’s young people will be confronted with new and unexpected situations throughout their lives – they have learn to deal creatively with uncertainty and change. Problem-solving techniques taught under computational thinking can help them do that.”

That makes sense. Why should kids ages 11-14 start learning to code with Python? 

“Python is the tool we use to help kids them apply computational thinking. We also chose it because it’s a very simple programming language that’s easy for beginners to pick up. It’s very extensive because of its libraries, so you can do lots of things with Python like Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), web development, and game development.

Libraries are basically code written by other people. Let’s say you want to do something with advanced statistics but lack the background for that. With Python, you can use a software library that someone else has written to do something complicated like regression analysis. All you’ll need is the inputs that you want to plug in, and you’ll get an output.

Compared to other programming languages like Java, you won’t get as many errors because the syntax is simple and easy to understand. 

If you’re completely new to programming, it’s still going to be a bit intimidating at first. But you can start making pretty complicated things faster than if you were to use other programming languages.”

What’s the coolest thing you’ve built using Python? 

“During university, I picked up Python to build a small self-driving car. It was very frustrating but also rewarding. At that time, I knew next to nothing about computer vision or deep learning, but I could make use of the OpenCV and Tensorflow Python libraries to easily build a self-driving car.

With Python, you can also automate scripts. That can cut down on Excel work you might otherwise have to do for a whole day, reducing it to a couple of hours.”

Back to Basics: From Zeroes to Python Heroes is designed for kids ages 11-14 with or without any prior coding experience. A hands-on introduction to the world of text-based programming, kids develop their computational thinking abilities with Python as their medium – discovering what it means to apply the language to meaningful real world applications in the process.

This course is currently available as a 5-day holiday camp, or as a weekly class on demand. Check out our schedule or contact us to find out more.

The post Going Back to Basics: What Kids Learn through Programming with Python appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

– Mitchel Resnick, Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.

We often hear from parents who would like their kids to experiment with coding, but they don’t know where to start. The options can seem a little overwhelming, but we almost always encourage our parents to start their kids with Scratch. Read on to find out why, and for a sneak preview of our own introduction to creative coding for kids, Start with Scratch. 

What is Scratch?

Scratch is a block-based visual programming language developed by MIT. Designed for kids 7-16 years old, kids can use Scratch to program their own interactive stories, games and animations. This is primarily done through dragging, dropping and connecting blocks together to form sequences – making it effortless for those who aren’t proficient with using keyboards to start coding. So basically, Scratch is all the fun of coding with none of the hassle of typing!  

Why Scratch?

For beginners who have no coding experience, Scratch is a great launchpad. Here’s why:

• Visual, block-based programming allows kids to see their code in action and learn concepts without having to type actual code.
• Helps kids learn to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively.
• Makes kids unafraid of failing by lowering the barriers for experimentation and iteration.
• Hosts a collaborative community of young coders, where kids can learn from each other and inspire each other.

Here’s a simple maze game that any kid, who has learnt the basics of Scratch, can create, using basic programming concepts.

Now check out the kind of game kids can create when they’ve learnt more advanced programming concepts and apply it to their projects. Pretty cool, huh?

The Saturday Kids Pedagogy

At Saturday Kids, our students don’t just learn to code – they code to learn.

No lectures, no memorisation, no one right answer. Like real life, we’re all about trying things out yourself, failing, figuring what went wrong and trying again. These are the skills and mindset that will last a lifetime, and how we learn in real life.

We’re all about equipping kids to learn how to learn, and for kids ages 7-10 Start with Scratch is the best way to jump in.

Because the kids who learn to learn become curious, inventive, resourceful human beings who solve real world problems to make a meaningful impact.

The post Start Your Child’s Coding Adventure with Scratch! appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

One step at a time.

That’s usually the answer when we need to deal with big problems. Let’s tackle things one step at a time.

In this case, we teach kids to take on big questions and problems one straw at a time!

For kids ages 7-10, Marvelous Machines and Mechanisms is a fun-packed, play-based, hands-on introduction to the world of robotics, hardware, and engineering!  Build structures using Strawbees and then program it with a micro-controller known as the Quirkbot!  

Build amazing inventions like these:

With basically just straws:

… But how?!?

Let’s find out. We take you behind the scenes below with Swe & Shawn, our curriculum developers (or Rocket Launchers as we call them) who designed this beginner-friendly camp.

Swe:

“It started with the product team playing with and testing out different toys earlier in January. We found that we enjoyed Strawbees a lot. It has a lot of potential…you can teach physics, molecular structure, mechanics.

You can build a lot of things with it and there’s a lot of versatility in terms of learning objectives and outcomes.

The best part is that it’s so easy!”

It really is! Here’s our 3 step guide to building your first structure with Strawbees:

Step 1: Grab a straw (any plastic one will do, we use 100% recyclable and reusable straws because, duh.), grab a Strawbee and join ’em up.

Step 2: This is what a Quirkbot looks like. It’s a mini microcontroller board which can be programmed and used with various LEDs, sensors, and motors to build a robot.

Step 3: Use a simple block-based interface similar to Scratch to program your Quirkbot.

Step 4: Straws + Strawbees + Quirkbot = Tada! You’ve just built your own robot.

Swe:

“It’s really easy to prototype. You can build a model of something interesting like the Art Science Museum even. You just need straws of different lengths, the connectors are all provided in the kit.

I’ve found that kids really enjoy the challenge of building something like a catapult and trying to get it working.

It gets kids thinking about what they want to build, and trying to figure out how to get there.”

Shawn:

“A machine is basically a bunch of moving parts put together. It’s about figuring out how each part works and then how to get them working all together.

Your Strawbees structure is the same – you start with simple cubes and triangles, you put them all together to create a machine, and then you program the Quirkbot to get the parts to move.”

Swe:

“We cover a bit of structural engineering in this course, and we obviously touch on the programming aspects with servos, input output, LEDs. But it’s essentially a very broad-based introduction to STEAM (that’s Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, Math).”

Shawn:

“We want kids to be able to apply what they learnt in Scratch to something really fun that challenges their creativity and at the same time, has real-life applications.

In this course, their creativity really is the limit.”

Marvelous Machines and Mechanisms runs as holiday camp for kids ages 7-14 with or without prior coding experience, and it’s designed to get ’em excited about the wonderful world of robotics, engineering and programming. 

PS: No straws were harmed in the making of this course. All straws used are 100% recyclable and were reused, many, many times.

The post Behind the Scenes: Let’s Take It One Straw At A Time appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.

It might sound painful and nearly impossible to bring an inherently collaborative, creative process online, but it was smoother and more efficient than you might think. Here’s we share a behind the scenes look at our process so that others might benefit, and so that COVID-19 doesn’t get in the way of the development of other awesome projects.

You can read all about why we built Code Meets World here!

The search for remote-friendly product design methodology

Our search for a tried and tested product design methodology that would allow our team to collaborate remotely without compromising our design standards led us to Google Venture’s Design Sprint.

The Design Sprint is a process aimed at making key decisions, getting ideas out and prototyping them as efficiently as possible. Its methodology was compatible with our existing collaboration tools like Notion, Miro, Slack and Google Meet.

Over 4 online sessions that otherwise would have been held over days with our team locked in a room, we reached a place where our goals, audience, and vision were clearly defined, so that the nitty gritty of curriculum development could kick off proper.

Here are some of our highlights:

Creative brainstorming: diverging and converging

With an interdisciplinary team, we entered the sprint with different perspectives, and also different assumptions and pet interests.

Brainstorming together (albeit from a distance) allowed us to learn from each other, explore a wider swathe of possibilities and deliberate priorities, all for a better product.

Prototyping user journeys

Via collaborative brainstorming on Miro, we drew out imagined user journeys as a starting point for solidifying abstract ideas into tangible ones. What would a typical lesson look like? How would lesson plans vary offline and online?

Creating our own prototypes allowed us to draw out elements across the board while enabling us to walkthrough and test out each idea.

Exploring other learning considerations

Through our sprint, we also explored other considerations, like balancing the course’s technical elements with contextual learnings. While there are plenty of online learning materials that teaches you how to build a website out of HTML, we didn’t come across any that teach a young person to question why theyshould do it.

A huge part of the Code Meets World curriculum is demystifying why we learn what we learn, and what good any and all of it is for. We teach children to write not with the expectation that they will become professional writers but so they will be able to participate in modern society. Similarly, we teach children to program and understand technology, not with the expectation that they will become professional programmers – but so they will able to participate in an increasingly technology-driven economy.

. . .

The outcome of our digital sprint formed the foundations on which our curriculum is currently being developed and iterated on.

Our first Code Meets World class launched in the last week of June. As of now, our pilot consists of 3 classes of kids ages 10-12. We’re keeping a close eye on the data reflecting their learning outcomes and classroom experience, as we prepare to make updates to the curriculum ahead of the next release.

So far in this first module, our students have learnt how to host their own personal website on Github and learnt the importance of online portfolios in the digital economy. They’ve started learning the basics of HTML and CSS to create their personal portfolios, and we can’t wait to showcase their work when the term is done.

Watch this space for updates!

The post How we designed Code Meets World collaboratively and completely remotely appeared first on Saturday Kids | Coding, Digital Literacy for Kids & Parents.