Tag: Kat Sarmiento

Why is Coding Important for School Students to Learn?

Posted on by richardjamesrogers

richardjamesrogers.com is the official blog of Richard James Rogers: high school Science teacher and award-winning author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management: 45 Secrets That All High School Teachers Need to Know. 

This blog post has been beautifully illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati.

Accompanying podcast episode:

As a teacher or a parent, you’ll likely have an interest in the subjects that children are learning in school, especially newer subjects like computer literacy, robotics, coding, or even game development. And while some parents and teachers might be worried that children already spend too much time on tablets, mobile phones or laptop computers as it is, the good news is that all of these subjects are likely to enhance the learning of more traditional curriculum areas, such as mathematics and English.

Coding, in particular, is quickly becoming a key skill that school students must achieve basic competency in before they graduate. In August last year, for example, former President Uhuru Kenyatta presided over the nationwide rollout of Kenya’s first ever coding curriculum in primary and secondary schools. This made Kenya the first African nation to create an official coding syllabus to be delivered in schools.

Today, I’ve invited Kat Sarmiento (content writer at Katreena’s Content Studio) to share her thoughts on why coding is such an important subject for students to learn.

Kat Sarmiento

In this digital age, when technological advancement continues to transform our lives, learning coding is crucial, especially for school students. Because if you think about it, the apps and websites children use all run on code. Thus, it’s vital for them to learn and understand the basics of coding to make the most out of the apps and websites they visit and utilize.

Image source: Pexels

As you may be aware, in the current curriculum, students in classes 11 and 12 are taught fundamental programming languages, such as C, C++, Foxpro, and more, while sixth-grade students and up learn computer basics. And as online education came to light, more and more students eagerly took online tuition coding classes to test various programming languages.

Given this situation, education professionals must also understand that teaching coding is as important as teaching sustainability at school. It offers numerous benefits for your students – from academic excellence to better career opportunities. To explain it further, we’ve listed down the reasons why coding is essential for students. Let’s get started.

#1: Coding improves critical thinking skills 

One of the many reasons why learning coding is important is that it can help students improve their critical thinking skills. A 2014 study actually demonstrates that the five brain areas associated with language processing, working memory, and attention are activated when people work with source code. Because besides memorizing various programming languages, students will also need to understand how to use them correctly. But to do that, it will require them to think differently. 

Dealing with codes requires you to break down problems into smaller and more manageable pieces to understand what happens next. This strategic problem-solving technique is called computational thinking. Coders must examine the data, assess the situation, and decide which course of action will help them achieve their objectives.

In light of this, students who learn how to code can improve their problem-solving/critical-thinking skills by figuring out the best solution to a problem at hand.

#2: Coding boosts creativity

Aside from honing problem-solving skills, coding also fosters the creativity of students. It gives them the opportunity to express themselves, experiment, and be creative. They can design websites, apps, or games in a fun and exciting way.

“But how does coding help with creativity?“, you may ask.

Well, while you learn various programming languages and techniques to create various programs, you always need to start building from scratch. For instance, when students are tasked to make an animated object, they have to think about what it should look like and how it can be presented on the screen. This is when they need to use their creativity and problem-solving skills to achieve what they picture.

#3: Coding teaches patience and persistence

Learning how to code is similar to how we learn a language. The only difference is we use programming languages to communicate with the computer. So, typically, we start by memorizing the alphabet, some words, and phrases before we begin creating sentences for use in conversations. And, of course, we will inevitably make mistakes along the way. It’s the same scenario in coding.

As you might already know, coding is complex and can be frustrating. But it teaches us patience and perseverance. Because to be successful, one must be able to experience failure and bounce back from it. It will take some testing and troubleshooting before the codes work effectively.

Students can use this process of trial and error to their advantage as they go through life, helping them to understand that perseverance is often necessary to find solutions to many difficulties.

#4: Coding improves communication and teamwork

Coding also teaches two of the best things students can use when they enter the real world: communication and teamwork. Most of the time, teachers assign students to work in groups when developing projects. That requires them to communicate with one another and make collaborative efforts for a successful program. But, even if they’re working on individual projects, they can still seek feedback from their classmates. Thus, by teaching coding to students, they’ll develop their communication skills and learn the importance of teamwork.

#5: Coding creates career opportunities

Finally, learning to code opens up many career opportunities. Considering how technology continuously advances as time passes by, coding is an extremely useful skill to possess. Computer programmers, web developers, and other IT jobs are now in demand because of the increasing number of businesses relying on code. And it’s not just those in the technology sector, but also those in finance, retail, health, and other industries.

If people learn to code at a young age, they’ll have the advantage of having better career opportunities in the future. Not to mention that the salary can be at a high level for those qualified, talented, and experienced IT people. 

The bottom line

There are many reasons why coding is important for school students to learn. Besides learning how to build websites and apps, they also learn valuable skills and lessons they can use in the real world. Not to mention that you’re also bringing them numerous career opportunities in this ever-growing digital world. And if they grow interested in developing more advanced and amazing software, they also contribute to our future.

Kat Sarmiento

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6 Reasons Why Education is Important

Posted on by richardjamesrogers

richardjamesrogers.com is the official blog of Richard James Rogers: high school Science teacher and the award-winning author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management: 45 Secrets That All High School Teachers Need to Know. This blog post is illustrated by Pop Sutthiya Lertyongphati.

We all understand the importance of developing ourselves professionally – whether that be by improving a particular set of teaching skills or by learning new ones. Sometimes, however, it’s important to go right back to the core fundamentals by considering why we do what we do in the first place. This week, I’ve invited Kat Sarmiento (content writer at Katreena’s Content Studio) to share her thoughts on why education is important in the first place.

Why is education important? To many of us, we learn the value of education from what the adults say. As children, not everyone understands why do we study, go to school, spend our free time with homework and learn. As we grow older, it becomes more and more necessary to receive the right level of education.

Learning is among the best habits of successful people. It creates future leaders, builds a polite society, and moves forward the future of humanity. If you or someone you know is questioning why they need to study, show this to them. Here are 6 reasons why education is important not only to you but for everyone.

#1: Education Teaches Independence

Education is not about learning random facts that you can’t use in real life. Whether you’re slaking your thirst for knowledge or you’re doing it for something more practical, education makes you independent. Early education molds you as a crucial, functioning member of society, no matter your age.

For younger children, education is there to teach them the basic skills necessary to survive society. For adolescents, proper education arms them with tools that can help them take advantage of opportunities. Higher learning like uni and post-grad demystifies the world further.

All these teach independence – from how the mechanics of how the body works to knowing what to do in a job. Independence is a matter of learning how to succeed after failure, how to protect yourself from opportunists, and how to deal with life in general. Life can be hard but education equips you with the right ways to make the most out of it.

#2: Education Provides More Employment Opportunities

With 7 billion people on Earth and around 330 million in the United States, finding a job is not easy. If you want a job that pays above the minimum wage, you usually need to have at least higher learning, if not more. Even at entry-level, you need to compete with hundreds of applicants vying for the same position.

Learning higher education, with the right teaching techniques, can give you the edge you need. You can differentiate yourself and fulfill a job demand within society. The world can never have too many data scientists, engineers, scientists, and more.

As you go and specialize even further, you expand your job opportunities and find more specific job opportunities. Depending on what you do, not only can you improve your chances of getting hired, you also stand out even further. Educate yourself, graduate, improve your skills, and get more qualifications to get ahead of the competition.

#3: Education Helps Us Connect

In many situations, those who don’t educate themselves are the ones who don’t understand other people. Education helps breed culture, and the lack of the former can result in an apparent lack of the latter. Education helps you understand people better, especially those who are different than you.

Education teaches you more about geography, history, and social sciences, which are crucial to know how to deal with multiple walks of life. Prejudices and discrimination according to race, gender orientation, physical ability, and more come from the lack of knowledge over many things that you learn at school.

The more we understand about the world and the people who are different than use, the better we can put ourselves in their shoes. It allows us to appreciate the good things about other cultures and help curb negative stereotypes that divide us as humans. We also learn more about our surroundings.

Education helps us empathize. It gives us a better understanding of the world and become better citizens of this world. It familiarizes things we don’t know and takes away potential prejudices we have towards them.

#4: Education Alleviates Poverty

Poverty is one of the most crippling social statuses in the world. It is painful for those stuck in it, as the lack of resources means a lack of nutrition and other essential needs too. To many, education is a luxury taken for granted but for many around the world, it is their ticket out of poverty.

As we said, proper education teaches you crucial life skills in a society that needs them. At the very least, reading, writing, and arithmetic teaches children to know how to deal with people. Each additional year of education can offer better education, better-paying jobs, and more ways to feed their families.

“An AMAZING Book!”

As we educate people, we also teach the future generation to be more discerning about their would-be leaders. People learn critical thinking skills necessary to help them make better decisions. This education, paired with the will to progress, can help people find better-paying jobs that can alleviate poverty.

#5: Education Breeds Confidence

One of the keys to getting further in life is being confident in everything that you do. Knowing your skills, what you bring to the table, what you can do, and what you can further learn can help you gain the confidence to succeed. Whether you have an art degree or a business background, education makes you confident with what you know.

To succeed, you need the confidence to look your uncertainties straight in the eye. It helps you overcome your fears, self-doubt, and crippling anxiety. Confidence also gives you the drive to start projects, show off their new ideas, and think outside the box.

Education can help breed confidence. As you learn more, the better you can express your thoughts and unveil your intellect. You can say yes to opportunities you believe you deserve and no to things that you don’t. Education breeds confidence, and the more you know, the fewer people can take advantage of you.

#6: Education Brings Equity

Education is one of the ultimate equalizers of the world. If you’re looking to simply be educated, it makes all opportunities more open to you, giving you a fair chance. If you’re looking to educate, you give other people a better chance to make the most out of their talents.

A world of knowledge is a world of equity. Everyone learns at different speeds – at various rates. Every person has a different starting point. Education can help get you and everyone else to the same finish line – success.

The Bottom Line

Whether it’s for yourself, your family, or other people, education is one of the most powerful weapons you can wield. The world is yours to take and you can uplift yourself and the people around you with the right education. You don’t have to be the next billionaire to see how valuable education can be.

Are you ready to learn? Educate yourself. Knowledge is the best foundation you can use to succeed in life. Even without selfless reasons, proper education can help all of us live in a better, more polite society.

Kat Sarmiento

Kat is a Molecular Biology Scientist turned Growth Marketing Scientist. During her free time, she loves to write articles that will bring delight, empower women, and spark the business mind. She loves to bake but unfortunately, baking doesn’t love her back. She has many things in her arsenal and writing is one of her passion projects.