4 Powerful Tools from Google to Teach Kids Coding

January, 2015
Coding is becoming one of the essential literacies in the 21st century education. There is a growing demand now for teaching students how to code. In his wonderful TED talk titled "Let's teach kids to code", Scientist Mitch Resnick made this beautiful analogy :

When kids learn to code , it enables them to learn many other things, opens up many new opportunities for learning. It's useful to make an analogy to reading and writing, when you learn to read and write it opens up opportunities for you to learn so many other things, when you learn to read you can then read to learn, which is the same thing with coding, if you learn to code you can code to learn.

Coding helps kids develop a variety of skills. Some of these skills include:

It helps kids learn in meaningful context
It teaches them that learning is a process and not a product
It teaches them how to take complex ideas and break them down into simpler parts
It teaches them how to collaborate with others
It also teaches them how to keep persistent and persevere in the face of frustration when things are not working well
it teaches determination and risk-taking
It helps them become fluent with technologies and enable them to open open up and express their ideas.
It helps them be creative
It helps them interact with the world around them

There are several web tools and mobile apps that teachers and parents can use to teach their kids coding. I have already covered some of the major ones in previous posts. Today, I am sharing with you another list of powerful coding tools but this time all of these tools are from Google for Education.

1- Code Gym

A Google-supported open source coding laboratory using drawing, music and creative fiction to introduce coding concepts

2-Blockly

Shaped-based coding environment introducing young programmers to fundamental coding concepts and challenges.

3-Made with Code

Coding is the new literacy - it carries the potential to create, to innovate, and quite literally change the world. This initiative is designed to inspire millions of girls to experience the power of code.

4- MIT App Inventor