By Chad Polito
Special Collaboration
BGC Dawson is excited to announce the launch of Kid Tech Nation this Spring in a virtual format. Kid Tech Nation is a BGC Canada national program that aims to increase children’s exposure to digital skills, coding concepts, internet safety, and computational thinking.
You may be wondering, why teach coding to children? Technology is everywhere and it’s not going anywhere! Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), especially when integrated with other disciplines, are the skills of the future. We want to equip with the critical skills they need to navigate the world we live in today and thrive in the future.
Teaching kids to code is about more than just helping children understand the technology they are using and securing employment in the future. At a fundamental level, it improves problem-solving and thinking skills and allows them to understand the world around them.
We think it is important for children to learn to code for a few reasons:
- Coding is a superpower. Learning to code let’s kids build – not just consume – the technology around them, like video games, websites, robots, and more.
- Coding helps kids develop new ways of thinking. Learning to code helps kids develop other crucial and transferable skills – like computational thinking – allowing them to tackle problems, outside the realm of coding, in new and innovative ways.
- Coding helps kids understand the world around them better.
- Coding can help change the world. Learning to code can empower kids to use technology as a creative tool to build solutions for problems or challenges people face every day.
- Coding is fun! We want kids to experience the satisfaction and thrill of building something of their very own.
Jacob, a past program participant explains: “We would log on to this really cool website and learn how to program. For example, I was able to program a wizard to walk over and talk to a crab. It was really hard to do, but I was able to figure out how to code it.”
Thomas loved everything about the program especially learning about micro bits! “My favorite activity was coding a machine to count my steps. We were able to create our own pedometer!”
Thanks to a special virtual programming grant from BGC Canada and the Government of Canada, BGC Dawson is able to offer Kid Tech Nation free of charge for children 7-12 years old. At BGC Dawson we truly believe that opportunity changes everything! For more information, or to register for the April Kid Tech Nation virtual sessions, please visit our website.
