Kids Can Take Free Coding Workshops at Apple Stores This Week
It’s Computer Education Week and Apple is offering thousands of free programming sessions across all Apple Stores. Workshops of all kinds are held here — at my local store, aspiring programmers can learn the basics of the Swift programming language, design a maze and guide Star Wars droids through obstacles, and bring robots to life with the Swift Playgrounds iPad app.
The event is part of Hour of Code , an initiative aimed at educating millions of students about one hour of computer science and computer programming classes. In addition to workshops, kindergarten and older children can take a look at these one-hour coding tutorials . There is one that lets you create your own Google logo using Scratch, a blocky programming language to make the letters dance, sing, or run. (Also be sure to check out today’s 50th Anniversary Google Doodle minigame for kids writing programming languages .)
Anyway, why would kids need to learn to code? According to Code.org, computer jobs are the # 1 source of new wages in the United States — jobs across all industries — and are projected to grow twice as fast as all other jobs. Yet only 11 states have created the K-12 standards for computer science. Last year, only 42,969 computer science students were educated. Computer science can help develop problem-solving skills, logic, and creativity .
Plus, you know that playing with droids is just fun.