By Justine Baker
Education is not what it used to be. With technology, learning has evolved in ways no one could have imagined, or prepared for, decades ago. It’s a lot easier for kids today to dip their toes into potential interests or future careers — whether it’s the lucrative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields or the dynamism of the creative industry.
Among today’s 21st century skills, Maryville University cites mobile software development as one of the most exciting and popular niches around. Apps have become a part of our daily lives, and it is very important for the next generation to develop their tech smarts from a young age. Moreover, every software development company in the arena has so many potential career opportunities, as anyone with a background in software development could find themselves working in a variety of fields and locations, such as for Apple, in a hospital, at a car manufacturer, or any other sector they have a keen interest in.
It’s never too early to introduce children to the flourishing world of mobile software development, especially if they show an inclination towards it.
Here are some tools and toys to start with:
Swift Playgrounds
Don’t underestimate the colorful shapes and characters. Swift Playgrounds is an app that is powerful enough to write real code, but is approachable enough for young learners. It teaches basic programming concepts such as loops and conditionals, while making use of animations to make lessons easy to digest. The strength of Swift Playground lies in its niche background — the language it teaches is very specific and fine-tuned to work with Apple software.
Tynker’s Hour of Code
Tynker’s Hour of Code is a good starting point for the wealth of education resources that the company has to offer. It’s an intuitive suite of games that helps children establish a basic foundation of computational thinking and programming skills. Since it was founded, Tech Crunch reports that Tynker has reached millions of young students and countless schools worldwide. The game developers have also partnered with brands such as Mattel, Parrot, and other toy companies that can be directly linked to their apps.
Scratch
Using drag and drop code blocks, Scratch lets kids create their own interactive stories, animations, and games. It uses its own programming language, making it a great introduction to the logical side of coding. It is recommended for older kids between the ages of 8-16 years old and also a younger version called Scratch Jr. for ages 5-7. Scratch 3.0 is now compatible with both of the LEGO Robotics platforms EV3 and WeDo 2.0. Scratch 3.0 has since been upgraded to include new images, support materials, and fresh programming capabilities. Scratch is a free to download and developed by MIT with a huge online community of over 40 million users, and is taught in hundreds of schools.
Inform 7
Unlike other programs, Inform 7 doesn’t rely too heavily on just code. Instead, it uses simple, everyday language to create interactive fiction. Players can explore stories and write adventure games all through code that reads like English. For instance, a command can be shown as “The house is south of the field,” so that when a user introduces a command to move south, they would then encounter the house. Inform 7 is one of the more accessible options to non-programmers, or those who learn better through reading comprehension.
Robot Turtles
Robot Turtles presents a unique approach in teaching the fundamentals of programming. Through a board game, kids are able to learn in a way that is both fun and familiar to them. With different levels that start at the most basic, it is able to progress and sustain your child’s interest while acting as its own lesson plan. Robot Turtles is such a hit with children, parents, and schools that it happens to be the most widely backed board game in Kickstarter history.