Many things pull for the attention of parents and children during June, July, and August. Vacations, sporting activities, and downtime. However, setting aside at least one week this summer for your child to attend a tech camp designed to teach them how to code might be a turning point for them.
This post will explain the short- and long-term benefits of coding camps, especially for children and teens in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program.
Short Term Benefits of Coding Camps
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Children will generally build one or more of the following:
- Website
- Mobile app
- Video game
- Robots
To accomplish this, they will learn to read in write in programming languages such as HTML, CSS, Python, JavaScript, or Ruby. By the end of camp, they will feel accomplished, seeing their project through from beginning to end.
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Coding improves creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration.
While children are bringing their assignments to life, they will run into obstacles. The code won’t work, or the avatar doesn’t do what they want. This is where they come up with better alternatives, try them out, fail and try something else. Asking for feedback is also part of their success.
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It builds confidence.
Children will leave camp with new skills they can use right away. Even when students don’t think they aren’t very good at math, they see their logic abound. New friendships will form, and they will improve their coding proficiency.
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Girls have an outreach program.
Girls Who Code focuses on girls in the STEM program wanting to feel comfortable in typically male-dominated camp programs. Software.org and Lockheed Martin are significant sponsors of this nationwide initiative.
Long Term Outlook
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It’s estimated that 2.4 million STEM jobs will go unfilled this year.
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71% of all new STEM jobs will be in computing, yet only 8% of STEM graduates are focused on Computer Science, according to code.
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Computer Science majors earn 40% more than other college graduates.
If children start to code early, anything is possible!