We had the privilege of speaking with Girls Who Code last month in our first Summit Session. Girls who code is an organization we’ve been crushing on for their efforts to close the gender gap in technology. Their programs educate, equip, and inspire girls with the computing skills they’ll need to pursue 21st-century opportunities.
Our Take Away:
Coding is a fun and satisfying way that anyone can program a computer. When kids learn to code it increases their attention to detail, creativity, math and science skills, problem-solving, and persistence.
A few popular coding languages include:
- JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages, Java is used for building things like video games and mobile apps.
- Python is a great choice if you want to see results quickly and build meaningful projects from the beginning.
- HTML is the primary language for the backend of websites.
Some fun coding projects you can do with kids:
- Use BotKit.io to build your own bot! This bot can talk about your charge’s favorite movie, tell jokes, or talk about their favorite sports. A bot is an autonomous program on the Internet that can interact with computer systems or users, especially one designed to respond or behave like a player in an adventure game.)
- Using JavaScript you can Layer doodles over videos LINK: (https://educators.brainpop.com/video/doodle-a-r/?utm_source=WAT&utm_medium=article ) To animate or create an augmented reality. For example, you can build thought bubbles over a video showing what Rosa Parks was thinking on that bus, or make a funny music video of their favorite song.
- Games like Robot Turtles LINK: https://www.robotturtles.com/ and GoldieBlox LINK: https://www.goldieblox.com/ are awesome ways to introduce kids to coding!
Coding is so universal it can be applied to almost any sector. People can use it in education, medicine, art, gaming, science, and sports!
Where to learn to code for free:
Code Academy: https://www.codecademy.com
Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/
edX: https://www.edx.org/
Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/
aGupieWare: https://blog.agupieware.com/
GitHub: https://github.com/
MIT Open Courseware: https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
Hack.pledge: https://hackpledge.org/
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