The Importance of Learning to Code in School

There are two main benefits for including some sort of coding curriculum for middle school and high school students. The first benefit is simply because of the sheer amount of jobs available in the programming industry. With the prevalence of internet-based jobs, it would be detrimental to a student's career path not to introduce them to coding at an early age. The second reason involves developing intangible, mental skills that can improve other areas of the student’s schooling and career, even if they decide that programming is not a path they wish to pursue.

Coding as a Career

There are millions of websites on the internet today, the majority of them being the face of a business or organization. All of these websites required a designer, developer or someone to build, and likely require a person or team to maintain them over time. There are also thousands of software-as-a-service companies that need to hire developers to help build, improve and maintain their product. Learning to code languages like Python, JavaScript and PHP provide the building blocks for learning additional programming languages in the future. WordPress, the internet’s #1 content management system, supporting approximately 35% of all websites on the internet, is built using PHP. Other common jobs in the programming industry include:

• Software/Computer Programmer

• Back-End Developer (PHP, MySQL, Python)

• Front-End Developer (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

• Software Engineer

• Mobile App Developer

These careers can make anywhere from $60,000-$100,000 a year, which is a respectable salary for anyone, but especially those coming out of college. Coding jobs also allow the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world and can even offer the ability to work as a freelancer, in addition to a full-time job. Having the knowledge to write software could even open the door to developing and selling your own custom software.

With so many potential jobs and opportunities in the programming industry, nurturing that coding mindset from a young age is very important.

The Intangibles of Learning to Code

The benefits of learning how to code go well beyond simply developing a career skill. For those who aren't interested in pursuing coding as a career, know that the skills and thought processes developed while coding can be applied to any job in any industry as well as throughout everyday life.

Learning to code is like learning another language, just like you would learn Spanish or German. It forces your brain to learn new and abstract ideas and methods it is not familiar with. It activates your memory as you strive to remember different rules and patterns.

Languages like Python, PHP and JavaScript allow students to build digital solutions to problems, forcing creative thinking, logic and problem solving. Code must be structured and follow a set of rules, otherwise the computers won’t process it correctly, so it’s important that whatever solution presented by the code is built using logic and stays organized. Also, there are usually multiple ways a program can accomplish a task, but it’s up to the developer to find the easiest, quickest or most efficient way. That is how students develop their problem solving skills.

These skills, such as problem solving, creative thinking, logic, collaboration and understanding abstract concepts, can be applied to everyday situations as well as any job where you may encounter the need for a creative solution. Even though a student may not enjoy coding in and of itself, the act of learning how to code forces the student to develop this "brain training".

Bring a Coding Curriculum to Your Classroom

StudioWeb is a 6th-12th grade coding solution that teaches all of the most popular web-based programming languages used today (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Python, PHP and MySQL). The video-based lessons walk you through everything you need to know to learn how to code from scratch. There are quizzes after every lesson and project files included for hands-on assignments that relate to real-world situations.

Consider what one of StudioWeb’s customers said about the learn-to-code teaching platform:

“StudioWeb gives you all of the most important information in a digested and easy to learn way without making you waste any time. The value in the already pedagogically condensed information shown is enormous for the price you're paying. It is hands down the best learning platform that I've ever used. I did the Lizard Wizard course and the contents are invaluable with approachable theory concepts and with real life examples and tips to adapt to your own life. It is fantastic and is already influencing my life positively!”

If your school is looking to start or improve their STEM coding curriculum, give StudioWeb a try. Licenses are available per student (per course), per student for all courses, or by building. Teachers can access all the lessons and learn to code for free! Give Sunburst Digital a call or email today to learn more about StudioWeb.