When talking about how beneficial it is for children to take computer programming courses, it's easy to focus solely on the practical side of things. With robots and AI looking like the future of so many job markets, it absolutely makes sense to teach a child to program. In 10-20 years, programming may be one of the few jobs left that's easy for people to get hired for!
However, children actually receive many more benefits from learning to program! Programming is a sort of "all brain" activity, which stimulates just about every part of their brain, and that pays off with some surprising -and highly beneficial- side effects!
Four Surprising Benefits from Choosing Computer Programming Courses for Your Child
In many ways, programming is truly all about problem-solving. We use computers and robots to solve problems in our everyday lives, and programming boils down to solving the basic problem of "how do I make a computer do the thing I want it to do?" A child who has learned to program will be well accustomed to seeing a problem and genuinely seeing it as a challenge to overcome, not an obstacle to be avoided.
If there's one form of thinking that seems to be in short supply these days, it's analytical thinking - and that's a problem. The future will need people who can look at problems or challenges and analyze them, breaking them down into their component parts, looking for solutions. This is a skill which programming reinforces every time a programmer is at their computer.
Another key mental skill reinforced by programming is formal logical thinking. That is, the ability to look at a program and break it down into a series of steps, 1 - 2 - 3, which lead to the solution. This isn't merely a skill for programmers, it's a life skill which can be applied to any problem which might appear.
Creativity in children is great, but which is better: the sort of creativity that leads to daydreaming? Or the type of creativity which leads to actual innovation? Programming is empowering to children, teaching them that they can dream up new ideas and then make those ideas real.
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