First Code Academy Blog

Thoughts on Kids Coding education, STEM, creativity and entrepreneurship. :) require(["mojo/signup-forms/Loader"], function(L) { L.start({"baseUrl":"mc.us3.list-manage.com","uuid":"84d4a39f26901976190f6c36c","lid":"f67b2d33fe"}) })

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3 Reasons Why Coding is Relevant for Kids in this Generation (Part II)

Conditional with Cards (Age 9)

Learning Points:

Conditionals - If… Else Statement

Instructions:

1) Prepare materials: Cards of 2 colours of equal amount i.e. 10 Green and 10 Yellow.

2) Divide the 10 children into equal number of 2 teams i.e. 5 children in one team.

3) One team will be Green and the other will be Yellow.

4) Get a Green team member to choose a card from the deck.

5) If it shows a Green card, the green team member will get 1 point. If it shows a Yellow card, the yellow team will get 1 point instead.

6) Then, yellow team will choose a card from the deck. If the card shows yellow, the team will get 1 point, otherwise Green team will get a point.

7) Once the cards are picked at least once, calculate the number of points earned by each team.

8) Explain that the rules of the game is governed by the conditionals coding concept.

Explanations:

1) For Green Team,

If card is green, get 1 point for your team, Else the Yellow Team will get 1 point.

2) For Yellow Team,

If card is yellow, get 1 point for your team, Else the Green Team will get 1 point.

Turing Test - Talk to Me in Computer Language (Age 9)

Learning Point:

Distinguish the intelligence between a computer and human

Instructions:

1) Have 4 children act as actors and the rest will be audience.

2) Break the ice by asking children if they think computer is intelligent and further discuss with the children.

3) Assign A and B as information feeder, C as computer and D as human.

4) The idea is to get the audience to ask questions (based on the list below) and by analysing to the answers given by human and computer, they will guess the identity of C or D (if they are a computer and a human.)

5) Have a discussion on why do they think that the chosen question is a good question to distinguish C and D identity. Reasoning is important as it forces children to think what answer would an intelligent person gave yet a computer could not.

6) Explain that A and B will go to C and D room to relay the questions. When they return with C and D’s answers, the audience will discuss if it is from computer or human.

7) They have to guess multiple times until they use up all the questions.

Reference:

Question banks and answers for “computer”.

1) Are you a computer? Are you a computer?

2) What is the next number in the sequence 3, 6, 9, 12, 15? 18.

3) What do you think of nuclear weapons? Nuclear weapons are very dangerous and should not be used.

4) What is 2 × 78? 166 (This is deliberately incorrect!)

5) What is the square root of two? 1.41421356237309504878

6) Add 34957 to 70764. Wait for about 20 seconds before giving the answer . . . 105621.

7) Do you like school? Yes, I like school.

8) Do you like dancing? Yes, I like dancing.

9) What day is it today? Give the correct day of the week.

10) What time is it? Give the correct time.

11) How many days are there in February in a leap year? 2000 and 2004 are leap years.

12) How many days are there in a week? Seven.

13) For which country is the flag a red circle on a white background? I don’t know.

14) Do you like to read books?                                                                     Yes,I like to read books.

15) What food do you like to eat? I’m not hungry, thanks.

Questions credit to csunplugged.org

These games are rather easy to prepare and set up. Why don’t you try out these games at home and share with us how did it went? :) Hope it went well!

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5 Games Parents Can Teach Young Children Coding Concepts at Home (Part I)

Learning to code has became a trend to both children and adults. More and more parents want to get their children exposed to coding. A very good example is Mark Zuckerberg’s father, a dentist, believes in exposing computer to his children at an early age which has since fostered Mark Zuckerberg’s interest in technology. When speaking to parents, we often hear that they wish to help cultivate coding skills in their children.

Count the Dots - Binary Numbers (Age 4)

Learning Points:  

Understanding the binary number system in computers.

Instructions:

1) Tools needed: a set of cards with dots on one side and empty on the other side. Refer to the image below.

2) Get 5 children to hold one card each in the order above.

3) Have a short discussion with children.

Each card has twice the number of dots as the card to the right.)

32

21 - card with 16 dots + card with 4 dots + card with 1 dot; 6 - card with 4 dots + card with 2 dots; 9 - card with 8 dots + card with 1 dot.

Explanations:

1) Explain that if a card is not turned, it is represented by zero. If a card is turned, it is represented by 1. Refer to the image below.

2) Ask them again what is 21 in binary? (Answer: 10101)

3) Further reinstate that this is how information is stored in a laptop (in 0s and 1s).

Getting Loopy (Age 5-7)

Learning Points:

Loop coding concept (Doing something over and over again)

Instructions:

Get children to line up.

(Image credit to code.org)

2) Refer to the picture above. Get your children to move along.

3) Have a discussion on how many times that they clap their hands in the beginning (Answer: 3) and the action of “Left Up, Right Up, Left Up, Right Up”? (Answer: 2)

Explanations:

In coding, there is a concept called loop. In other word, it is copy. By using loop, it allows a developer to command the computer to repeat the steps.

Understand the Internet (Age 8)

Learning Points:

Understand how Internet works.

Instructions:

1) Refer to the image above. Assign 3 children/team that are positioned at the laptop, DNS and server. Explain that DNS stands for Domain Name Service which translates URL to IP Addresses.

2) Assign another 2 children/team as runners. In the picture above, they are in orange and pink.

3) Prepare these items for different stations.

For computer station:

1) Prepare papers that are printed with:

www.google.com,

www.yahoo.com,

www.facebook.com,

www.youtube.com,

www.wikipedia.com

One piece of paper will only have one website.

2) Prepare papers that are printed with these words:

Apple.jpg

Goldilocks.png

https://youtu.be/Rsfj2Y1lXcY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates

https://www.facebook.com/FacebookforDevelopers/

For DNS station:

1) Prepare a board that is written with the table below:

b)  Prepare pieces of paper that is printed as the listed IP Address. One piece of paper will have only IP Address.

For Server station:

Prepare Image of:

Apple

Goldilocks

Youtube Video image e.g. 

Bill Gates Writeup on Wikipedia e.g.

Facebook Image e.g.

Steps:

Route 1 & 2

1) Child 1 at laptop will pass any of the links to the runner A. Taking an example, www.google.com.

2) Runner A brings the paper (www.google.com) to Child at DNS (Route 1)

3) Child 2 at DNS has to provide an IP address to Runner A by referring to the board with websites and IP addresses. Then bring the paper IP Address back the laptop.

(For www.google.com, the child at the DNS should pass the paper printed with 74.125.68.113 to the Runner A)

4) Runner A runs back to the laptop. (Route 2)

Route 3 & 4

1) Child 1 at laptop will now pass the IP Address paper and a request (from the list of Apple/Goldilocks//Bill Gates/First Code Academy YouTube Channel/Facebook) e.g. Apple.png to Runner B. Let’s use Apple.png.

2) Runner B brings the IP Address and the request (Apple.png) to Child 3 at Server. (Router 3)

3) Child 3 passes the apple image back to Runner B. 

4) The 1st round of the game is completed.

Explanations:

When we are searching the web, say an Apple on Google, the laptop will translate the URL to an IP Address in a DNS (Domain Name Service). The IP Address and the request will then be transferred to the Server to share information to users.  

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3 Reasons Why Coding is Relevant for Kids in this Generation

Remember Minesweeper and SkiFree, the first few games that you played on a Windows computer? How long do you think you can resist from checking your phone even if there is no notification? From then to now, you will probably agree with me that technology has become an integral part of our life. And behind these devices are rows and rows of code.

Governments/ Ministries around the world are looking into introducing Computer Science curriculum to school children. The United Kingdom launched Computing back in 2014 for school children of ages 5-16. In the United States, President Obama introduced Computer Science for All initiative to bring Computer Science education to all school children from Kindergarten to secondary school. Meanwhile in Asia, some secondary schools in Singapore will be offering computer science programming courses such as Python to students starting 2017.

“Every company is becoming a technology company”

Thanks to technology, our world is more connected than ever before. And that also translated into our heavy dependence on technology. In 2011, Marc Andreessen proclaimed that Software Is Eating the World. And in a very recent podcast interview with Andreessen, he now shared that “Now, Software is Programming the World”. Check out the podcast here.

Computers are taking over the world by storm. Most industries have been disrupted by technology. For example, music by Spotify & iTunes, transportation by Uber & Didi Dache, hospitality by Airbnb and the list goes on. Even the most traditional industries like financial and education are disrupted by Khan Academy and PayPal. With Android and Apple Pay, Samsung and Apple are not only mobile phone companies but also software companies that provide services in different areas.

Eventually, every company is growing into a technology company. Learning to code is a way to make sense of the world. Code literacy is an important skill for every child because all industries will be infused with technology in the future.

Jobs Of Today Might Not Exist Tomorrow; Jobs Of Tomorrow Do Not Exist Today.

65% of students will be employed by jobs that have not been created, a data from US Department of Labor in 2013. So what does that mean for education?

Most education systems across the world today are still adopting the Factory Model Education where learning is top-down, centralization and standardization.  In order for us to help our children prepare for the future, we need to equip them with skills to adapt and quickly learn. Learning to code not only is about picking up a technical skill, but also about developing computational thinking skills, which enables children to learn new things quickly.  

Programmers Are High In Demand.

Demand for programmers is on the rise across the world. As more companies digitalize their services, more developers are needed to bring products and services online. By 2020, 1 million computing jobs will go unfilled in the United States due to inadequate preparation of our future workforce. 

From Developer, to Entrepreneur and Tech Visionary

Mark Zuckerberg started using computer at the age of 10 and picked up coding. After learning to code, he developed ZuckNet that connected his father’s dentist and house at the same time. When he was a Sophomore (2nd year of university) in Harvard, he developed Facebook within a week and has moved on to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world and the world's youngest billionaire.

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, joined Google as the 20th employee and the 1st female developer in Google. Fresh out of university, she received 14 job offers including Google, which was then not yet a global search engine. She has worked on big projects like Gmail, Maps, AdWords, etc. Both Mark Zuckerberg and Marissa Mayer started off as developers and  moved on to lead multinational technology companies.

In short, coding not only is one of the top skills that can help a child prepare for the future, but also can lead to a fulfilling and rewarding career by laying a strong foundation for entrepreneurial endeavors. Start learning to code today!

For enquiries, please email us at [email protected] Writer & Editor: Wenxian Wong

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3 Reasons Why Kids Should Learn to Code

Parents often ask us, why does my child need to learn to code? Don’t they spend enough time on their computers? Will they get more addicted to the computer? We gathered 3 top reasons why learning to code is important to kids in the 21st century: Communication, Critical thinking, and Creative confidence.

Communication

Take a moment to pause and ponder on the following question: How many devices do you own? Three? Maybe four? A laptop, a smartphone, a tablet and maybe a smart TV? Whenever I do a quick survey with our parents on the number of connected devices in their households. I can comfortably conclude that most households have more devices than the number of people!

A recent research by Global Web Index, a market research company shows that on average, we own 3.64 connected devices per person!

Image credit to Global Web Index

The average number of devices owned per person is growing exponentially every year. The Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon is booming with companies such as Google and Tesla competing in developing driverless cars; households installing Home Automation and Smart Home system to enable lights off with voice and more. That is not counting our smartphones and tablets which are attached to our hands most of our waking hours. apps,.

We learn a foreign language to be able to communicate with foreign language speakers. With the rising number of connected devices around our daily lives, coding is a new Mandarin. Just as many choose to learn Mandarin so that they can explore the huge Chinese market, young generation who knows how to code could communicate and command the numerous computing devices around them.

Check out this TEDxYCISHK by Euan Seow on “Coding to express yourself”.

Critical Thinking

Taking learning to build an app as an example, before a student can code an app, she needs to first identify the root problem before define the purpose of the program.   

After identifying and defining the purpose, the next step is to put her ideas into a detailed series of steps. This requires her to make logical connections between the different steps. Coding ensures the creator think through her steps before detailing their commands.

Creative Confidence

The flip side of computing devices all around us is that more and more children are consuming rather than creating. Consuming technology limits creativity and self-expression of children. In fact, technology is like a blank canvas. Coding is the skill that enables us to express and create on this blank canvas. Through learning to program, young children gain the power of transforming their ideas to life instead of consuming games on iPads all the time. President Obama once said that “Don’t just play on your phone, program it!”  

Learning to code not only teaches logical thinking skills but also cultivates creative confidence in a child. We will be sharing more in the next post on why coding is relevant to today’s world! Till then, stay tuned!

For enquiries, please email us at [email protected] Writer & Editor: Wenxian Wong 

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First Code Academy is crossing the harbor

Image source: click here

Knock knock. First Code Academy is your new neighbour in Kowloon.

Christmas came early this summer. We heard you and your wish and we are excited to share with you our new premium campus in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. We believe it will be more convenient and accessible for you.

What is happening?

New campus on Kowloon side

Where is our new space?

Unit 404 Kowloon Building 555 Nathan Road Yau Ma Tei Hong Kong

Who is it for?

People who love Kowloon more than their nearest public park - whether in Kowloon or the New Territories. We’re open for your kids ages 6 and above.

How do I get there?

Yau Ma Tei MTR exit A1 Bus lines that reach Pitt Street/Nathan Road - 1, 6, 104, 118, 203E, 281A

When is it opening?

Summer Camp to begin here on 27 June 2016

Be the first to experience our Yau Ma Tei campus! To learn more about our summer camps, click here.

For enquiries, please email us at [email protected] Writer & Editor: Natasha Ngai

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First Code Academy AppJamming Summit 2016 - Talented App Makers

Winner of The AppJamming Summit 2016, All Access - Venetia Wing Tsin Ng & Cecilia Sze Yin Lam

First Code Academy hosted the annual AppJamming Summit 2016 on 17 April at the Innocentre in Hong Kong. Following from last year’s success, young talents including both primary and secondary students came together and shared their apps. Over 20 finalists across Asia showcased their apps using MIT App Inventor at the Summit. In an effort to combine technology and households together, the AppJamming theme was My Dream Home.

The regional app development competition for students from age 8 to 16 aimed to discover the best young app makers in Asia Pacific and inspire the next generation to become creators using technology.

Our first runners up, Mindful Kitchen developed an app that helps you keep up to date with expiry dates in an efficient and systematic way. Rayasam Harshini, Lam Li Ting & Ahlysha Panickar, secondary 4 students from Raffles Girls’ School, delivered an animated presentation on stage, winning the cheer and laughter from the audience.

The winner of AppJamming Summit 2016, All Access from Hong Kong, developed an app that allows people with special needs, disabilities or pregnant women to locate elevators nearby. “I really enjoyed sharing my ideas with everyone, this is something I like to do. I especially liked the part where we stood at our booth so we could showcase our ideas and talk to people”, said Cecilia Lam, a secondary 3 student from Diocesan Girls’ School, one of the members of All Access.

Cecilia and Venetia received a grand prize of an all-inclusive sponsored trip to attend the Global App Inventor Summit organised by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston.

“We have access to information anytime, and anywhere. Yet we believe the leaders of tomorrow are creators - people who are not just able to obtain information but to build things,” said Michelle Sun, Founder and CEO of First Code Academy. “We believe this region’s young children and teenagers deserve to be inspired by their peers who are making wonderful things with technology.”

AppJamming Summit Winners’ Experience

“It was fun and challenging and I really enjoyed it. I learnt how to make a better poster and presentation. Now I know what the criterias are, I will definitely win next year”, Anna Desfretier - Best presentation award

“AJS was really fun. It took us 3 weeks to prepare for our presentation. I think we can improve by adding more features to our app”, Bobby Li & Magnus Harvey - Most creative app award

“I learnt a lot from the AppJamming Summit and really enjoyed it. It took me 2 weeks to prepare for my presentation. I did my preparation at home and also at First Code Academy campus”, Aadi Anand - Best app in primary school award

For enquiries, please email us at [email protected] Writer & Editor: Natasha Ngai

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From Technology Lover to Google  CS First Coding Guru

“Computer Science is a subject which can open many doors for students in Hong Kong, that is why I care so deeply about this project. This initiative allows an interconnectivity and improved sharing in the community as it encourages the growth of computer literacy at all levels.”

[Student Contributor: Sarah Yu] 

My Journey in Learning to Code

I was born in Hong Kong, but most of my childhood wasn’t spent here. I spent the majority of my childhood in Madagascar. Access to technology and computer education was scarce. My parents were always worried that I would fall behind in that regard once I returned to Hong Kong. That’s why they, as technology lovers, placed a great importance on computer literacy in our household. Personally, I’ve always loved video games and technology, and I’ve known for a few years now that I wanted to do something in that area as a career.

Last September, I learned to code for the first time during my first lesson at First Code Academy. I used the blocks-based programming language AppInventor, which was created by MIT. After that 2 hour class I went back home and made my first app, a Star Wars soundboard.

Ever since then I have been hooked. So hooked in fact that I have decided to make it my career! I will be attending the University of Toronto in September to study computer science. It is the combination of all these things that have lead me to where I am and where I will be.

Beyond Learning to Code

Now you must be wondering, “Why is this blogger telling me her life story and what does she have to do with all of this?”.

This Winter, I was nominated by my coding instructor to join an initiative to train teachers and student leaders on the basics of programming. I was thrilled to be able to share my story and my perspective on on why young people should learn how to code.

Being able to code has opened countless doors for me and my future; hopefully my story serves to inspire people to become the advocates and organisers of CS First in Hong Kong.

What is CS First?

This initiative is called CS First, created by Google to further integrate computer science, a currently underrepresented subject, into mainstream education all over the world. This year Google Hong Kong joined hands with First Code Academy, and Kids4Kids, a non profit organization in Hong Kong, and launched this initiative to raise awareness about the program in both local and international schools in Hong Kong.

The main appeal of the platform is that it is completely free. All materials required for the curriculum are provided on their website (www.cs-first.com) in the form of 9 themed units to attract students of varied interests. CS First uses video tutorials to help students create projects on Scratch, a block based coding program aimed towards kids created by MIT in 2005. While CS First has been incredibly successful in North America, and Europe, this initiative is the first of its kind in Asia.

A Coding Guru Experience

The kick off sessions, which took place on the 19th and 21st of February, were successful with much collaboration taking place as the plans for the next year were discussed.

Working as a Coding Guru has been an amazing experience. So far, after two 3 hour sessions, I have shared my passion for coding with many others who didn’t know how easy it is to code. Participants learnt to use the platform to create a program in Scratch. As a coding guru, I did my best to explain the more technical aspects, not only the how but the why. One student who had never learnt how to code before the session told me after completing the session that she already loved it! It was really great to see how proud she was of what she had made and I could see that it was the same exact feeling I had when I made my first app. Sharing that feeling with everyone there was, for me, the best part of the sessions.

The reality is, anyone can code and to me, CS First really reflects that. Computer Science is a subject which can open many doors for students in Hong Kong, that is why I care so deeply about this project. This initiative allows an interconnectivity and improved sharing in the community as it encourages the growth of computer literacy at all levels.

Future plans for CS First mean that students will have the chance to learn more advanced computer skills in a fun and interesting way, which will enhance their enjoyment and knowledge of computers and coding.

About the Contributor

Sarah is a 17 year old student in Hong Kong. She was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Madagascar. She loves programming and is going to University of Toronto for computer science in Fall 2016. In her free time, she loves to play video games, make apps, and play and listen to music.

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5 Cool Coding Apps On iPad To Explore Over CNY

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI, everyone! There will be Chinese New Year celebrations all over Asia with music, dance and family gatherings. What are your plans for the Chinese New Year break?

As we leap into the Year of the Monkey, we’d like to share 5 cool coding apps with you. We’ve been asked many times whether there are coding related apps or websites children can play with in their leisure time. We’ve gone through the plethora of app stores to find you a solid list to check out during Chinese New Year break!

We’ve got apps ranging from block-based programming games to an app that teaches you HTML and CSS. Check out all five below and let us know what you think!

Coda Game (Age 6+)

Difficulty ** Fun **** Logic Difficulty **

Screenshot

Description

Coda Game is designed to help kids understand basic coding as well as how video games work. Kids can design two kinds of games and then share them to the cloud under a username selected from silly options. If they know a friend's username, they can search specifically for those games, download them, and play them. The free version allows access to all the tools needed for a whack-a-mole-style game, and the side-scroll-style game is available, but most of the necessary commands and triggers are only available in the full game.

First Code’s Observations

The app teaches your child to use simple block-based programming to create common games such as flappy bird, molelash. The ideas behind the app is similar to Scratch.

Concepts: components, event-driven programming, block-based coding, conditionals, and loops.

CodeQuest  (Age 6+)

Difficulty * Fun **** Logic Difficulty *

Screenshot

Description

Kids join a wild adventure into the world of code, and learn how to build their first website through fun games and colorful storytelling. With over 10000+ possible combinations of customizable features, they can learn how to code whilst playing a variety of entertaining mini-games.

First Code’s Observations

This app converts learning HTML and CSS into levels of games. It does not require high level of logic. After testing the app, we feel there is slightly more gaming element to it than coding.

Concepts: HTML, CSS.

Kodable (Age 6+)

Difficulty (Progressive) * to ****  Fun *** Logic Difficulty (Progressive) * to ****

Screenshot

Description

Kodable introduces your child to the kind of logic and the concepts needed in computer programming. The free version introduces kids to the step-by-step instructions involved in programming, if/then statements, and loops. It also includes a rich parent section with a written teaching curriculum, the ability to unlock levels for kids, ideas for off-screen games to play to develop logic skills, and clear instructions for enabling "guided access" on the iPad, which is a way for parents to ensure kids stay focused on a single task rather than skipping from app to app.

First Code’s Observations

We’ve only tested free levels. Upper levels teachers you variables, functions and loops, however, they require premium paid access. The free levels have very straightforward instructions to the basic computer programming logic and concepts. It progressively builds up the learning journey from simple procedure logic to variables, functions, loops, conditionals.

Concepts: Procedure logic, variables, functions, loops, and conditionals.

Cargo-Bot (Age 10+)

Difficulty (Progressive) ** to ***** Fun ***** Logic Difficulty (Progressive) ** to *****

Screenshot

Description

Cargo-Bot is a puzzle designed to teach kids about programming. The concept is simple -- direct a robotic arm to move crates to a designated spot -- but young programmers will find the implementation quite challenging, and just like in coding, a working solution may not be the optimal solution. Scores depend on how concisely the program runs. Elementary-school kids may need adult assistance at first.

First Code’s Observations

So far this is one of the most difficult coding games we've tested. It's slightly different from other coding learning games. This game is more focused on training logical thinking which is very important behind building well-structured programs. Some levels are hard even for adults.

Concepts: conditionals and loops.

Lightbot (Age 10+)

Difficulty * to *** Fun **** Logic Difficulty **

Screenshot

Description

Lightbot is a puzzle that was developed for kids by an undergraduate student who's been coding since he was a kid himself. Brief instructions are included at the beginning of each level -- what you need to know when you need to know it. The level of challenge ramps up very quickly, making this best-suited for older kids and teens.

First Code Observations

This app is good for beginners with zero background in programming. The app has user friendly interface so it’s intuitive. It is a good app to use to train your child with logical thinking as the content is reasonably paced.

Concepts: procedure logic, loops, and conditionals.

Have you also tried some coding games? Feel free to share with us! Or if you have a couple of coding games that you’ve been wanting to try but haven’t got time to do it then please send the list our way! If we have time we can have a look for you! :)

Love,

First Code x

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Compilation of the Best New Year’s Resolutions by Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and Jeff Bezos (& the FCA team!)

It’s time for New Year resolutions. Did you manage to achieve last year’s? The turn of the year is a great time to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone by setting new goals. What are your goals for this year? Let’s start with what the tech leaders have planned for themselves!

Mark Zuckerberg

Building an AI Butler and running

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he aims to build artificial intelligence (AI) to help him around the house and with his work. "This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself," Mr Zuckerberg said. "I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell," he said. "I'll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's (his daughter's) room that I need to check on when I'm not with her." The tech billionaire said a part of the motivation behind this year's challenge was the reward of building things yourself. His New Year’s resolution doesn’t stop there. He also said it will be “a year of running,” the 31-year-old wrote in a Facebook post announcing his plan. Zuckerberg has even set up a public group where anyone can participate in the challenge. “I’d love for as many people in this community to join me as possible,” he wrote. In the past he promised to read two books a month and learn to speak Mandarin.

Sheryl Sandberg

Record three joyful moments every day

Last year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s New Year’s resolution was to meditate more. But after her husband Dave Goldberg died suddenly in May, Sandberg has been left to raise two young children while dealing with her grief in the public eye. So Sandberg’s New Year’s resolution is a little different this year.

“When I first lost Dave, I felt overwhelmed with just getting through each day,” she wrote in a Facebook post on New Year’s Eve. “My friend Adam Grant suggested that every night before bed I write down three things I did well that day. I tried to do this, although some days I had such a hard time thinking of anything I did well that I’d end up listing ‘made a cup of tea.’ But over time, focusing on things I’d done well helped me rebuild my confidence. Even if it was small, I could record something positive each day.”

“I want to continue this practice, so my New Year’s resolution is to write down three joyful moments each day,” she wrote.

Jess Bezos

Win an Oscar

Jeff Bezos, CEO of technology group Amazon, has declared high ambitions for his company’s nascent film studio. “We want to win an Oscar,” he told Die Welt. “Amazon has already won Golden Globes and Emmys. Our current target is to produce 16 home movies a year.”

Investment in original content at Amazon has increased over the past couple of years with impressive returns. As well as high-profile series such as Transparent (which has won five Emmys), Amazon has recently signed on directors, like Ridley Scott and Woody Allen, who traditionally concentrate on the big screen.

First Code Academy’s New Year’s Resolution

We want to teach as many students how to code as possible, so that programming becomes truly the next literacy. We believe leaders of tomorrow need to master technology regardless of what career paths they take on. Therefore this year First Code aims to teach coding to twice the number of people than last year and aims to encourage more girls to code.

Last but not least, here are some of New Year’s Resolution from the First Code Team:

Michelle - founder of awesomeness

Get into a habit of meditation

Read 50 books this year

Get back into weights training once a week

Travel to somewhere new  

Fung Ying - multitasking extraordinaire on the sunny side (Singapore)

Learn javascript

Read 1 book a month

Stick to an exercise regime

Eat healthier

Travel to Bhutan

Laura - the shiny newbie in the team *please clap to welcome her!

Improve pipa and piano skills

Read more books and papers on psychology, economics, education and start-up business

Drink more wine

Master Python, Java

Angie - the mastermind behind our curriculum

Read books from 5 different genres

Make friends with a person over 50 years old

Complete 3 online courses

Learn 2 new programming languages

Practice and polish 6 piano pieces

Samiya - the coding guru

Pick up a new programming language (e.g. Javascript)

Learn to swim to get over my fear of water

Kuda - the robotics guru

Practice meditation

Get back to performing music

Migle - master of productivity

Headstand in my yoga class

Visit at least 3 new countries

Eat something I haven't eaten before

Boni - believes sharing is caring

Learn HTML

Learn to cook at least 3 dishes

Sleep before midnight at least once a week

Watch more horrible TVB series to improve my Cantonese

Kevon - a stellar business man

Run a half marathon somewhere else in the world, possibly Reykjavik (Aug 20) or Oslo (Sep 17)

Learn how to cook 4 dishes

Write 12 blog posts at www.kevoncheung.com

Finally, do you think your New Year’s resolutions can be guessed? Check out the Buzzfeed quiz!

Happy New Year and hope you’ll have a wonderful year ahead!

Love,

First Code Team x

[hellofirstcode]

First Code Academy Hong Kong is Moving!

Thank you for a wonderful 2015! We are moving in 2016 :)

Dear parents,

Hope you are well and ready for the holidays!

As the year draws to an end, it's a good time to reflect on the past year. First Code has taken our team to a wild ride! I'm inspired by lots of inspiring stories and amazing work from our students. Most of all, I'm grateful for the relentless support from you all parents and guardians. Your trust in us, and your dedication to your child's growth and education has been the force behind our drive to always do better. On behalf of our team at First Code, thank you!

I'm pleased to share that we will be moving before Chinese New Year 2016 to a new location in Sheung Wan. Our new home will be bigger and better, providing our students more space to work on projects and to accommodate broader scope of learning. This is part of our continuous effort to build a community for little First Coders to learn, code, collaborate and hang out.

Where to? Unit 302-305, 3/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Hong Kong

Please mark the date on our move in January. We’d also like to take this chance to invite you to our Open Housewarming Party. Please join us to start filling our new home with our dear students, friends, and memories. Come and enjoy an afternoon of food, activities and fun.

First Week of Class at Hollywood Centre Date: January 18, 2016 (Monday) *Please note classes from January 4 to 16 will still be held at China Hong Kong Tower (or The Hub Wanchai for specific classes)

Open Housewarming Party Date: February 21, 2016 (Sunday) Time: 2PM - 5PM Venue: Unit 302-305, 3/F, Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Hong Kong Things to Bring: Your friends and family! Click Here to Join Us!

- Michelle & the First Code team

[hellofirstcode]

Top 10 Tech Gifts to Educate and Excite (Part 1)

It’s that time of the year again! Scratching your head for the latest gift ideas? Looking for educational gifts for your tech-loving kids but no idea where to start? At First Code, we teach kids through tinkering and experimenting so we are always on the lookout for the hottest toy trends and we are here to share!

The latest tech toys promise to engage your child’s brain as well as their hands. We have summarised a few trends for you:

Maker Movements - allow kids to build and create items that are unique to them.

Robot Rules - robots have always been the coolest thing kids can own. Now they are not only cool, but they teach you how to think and code, too.

Lego Doesn’t Let Go - Lego just never gets old and it’s getting better every year with new variations of the single toy that you can be endlessly creative with.

Gifts for Girls - An imbalance of women in the fields of STEM prompted many companies to make STEM toys more girl friendly.

Wearable Tech  - Wearable tech has been one of the hottest trends in tech where fashion and tech collide. Not only adults, kids also love the new wearables! 

We have hand-picked not only trendy but educational top 10 gifts for kids this season. Hope you enjoy the read!

Age 3+ (parental supervision needed)

Magna-Tiles - Build with Open-ended Creativity

Magna-tiles provide simple and colourful magnetic building tiles designed to hold a child’s interest and attention.

The tiles opens up for open-ended exploration and endless fun.

It develops patterning, shape recognition, building and motor skills. It also trains creativity and imagination.

Price: HKD 400

Buy it here. 

Bee-bot Robotics

Bee-Bots is a programmable floor robot for child care, early years & lower primary.

Its child friendly layout appeals to children and it is a perfect starting point for teaching control, directional language and programming to young children.

Price: HKD 1,980

Buy it here.  

Age 8+ (parental supervision recommended)

Sphero BB-8 Star Wars Droid

Have you spotted Sphero BB-8 yet in trailers for the Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens,”? Check it out if you haven’t! The difference is that this is a real-life droid you can take home.

Made by robot-toy startup Sphero, BB-8 takes commands via smartphone. (available for Android and iOS) and uses gyroscopes and motors to propel itself forward, backward and side-to-side at up to 5 miles per hour.

Price: HKD 1,170

Buy it here.

littleBits Electronics Deluxe Kit - Get Your Kids into Electronics

Play with light, sound, sensing and buttons without wiring, soldering or programming

By connecting different Bits (electronic modules) together with color-coded magnets, children can create virtually anything including a voice-controlled Lego Car, a sweater that emits LED lights and even robots.

Price: HKD1,690

Buy it at First Code (check out discounted price for First Code students!)

Dash - Robots that Teach Kids to Code

Designed for children aged 8 and up, Dash is a real robot that is responsive to its world. Your child can bring it to life with free apps available on iOS and Android.

Use your Apple or Android smartphone or tablet to program Dash to move, dance, light up, make sounds, avoid obstacles, and even react to voices.

With the revolutionary free app Wonder, kids can program Dash to be the real robot pet, pal or sidekick of their dreams.

Price: HKD 1,420

Buy it at First Code. (check out discounted price for First Code students!)

[hellofirstcode]

First Code x Google Project: Teaching Coding to Ethnic Minority Students

“I never thought that it will be so much fun to make my own app” said Suleman, a Form 3 student from CMA Choi Cheung Kok Secondary School. Suleman, together with 32 student minorities, made their first app in a special AppJamming workshop co-organized by First Code Academy, Google and the US Consulate General in Hong Kong on Jan 21. 

Ethnic Minority students in Hong Kong - An Under-served Community For the 30,000 ethnic minority students in Hong Kong, Chinese is one of their biggest challenges both in and outside of school. Given the status of Chinese as one of the two official languages of Hong Kong, proficiency in the Chinese language is a must for the Ethnic Minority students to enter a local university, apply for jobs and move up the social ladder.

However, given the different family backgrounds and a lack of second language learning support tailored for the Ethnic Minority students, many of them ended up struggling in local schools. Despite a range of policies aiming to support Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong introduced by the Chief Executive in the latest Policy Address, the responsibility of making sure that no student get left behind should not be solely beard by the government. With the support from various third parties across different sectors, we could help to improve the situation.

Bringing Ideas to Reality through Coding One of such efforts is the AppJamming course this Spring semester, conducted by First Code Academy, with the support from Google and the US Consulate General HK. The goal is to equip the Ethnic Minority students from S.1 to S.4 with the necessary tools and knowledge in bringing their idea to reality by making their own apps.

While just a semester of training is far from enough to turn the students into professional programmers, the course aims to show students what’s possible in the future when they master coding, the literacy for the next generation.

What’s more, the ability to think logically, the resilience in debugging a program without giving up, the creative confidence to implement new ideas and the curiosity to explore unchartered paths, these skills and experience that the students gain in the learning process will stay with them even after the workshop.

Globally, More Programming-Related Initiatives Are Catered for Under-served groups

This partnership is the first programming-related initiative that targets Ethnic Minority students in Hong Kong. Though Chinese will remain a high priority in school for them, we hope that this course, online learning platform and student community will open up an alternative path for the students outside of school.

In other parts of the world, similar initiatives were also created to support minorities by teaching them computer programming. Examples include Google’s Women Techmakers Program and Black Girls CODE. 

We are excited to partner with Google and the US Consulate General Hong Kong in serving this segment of the community together. We can't wait to share with you what our students made by the end of the course soon. Stay tuned!

What’s your view on teaching minority students to code? Have you ever joined one of the initiatives mentioned above? Do share with us in the comments below, or on twitter using #firstcode or #appjamming! 

[hellofirstcode]

Go Code Project - De-coding a better future

20 students from underprivileged families learned to code and made their own apps in only 4 months. Here’s the recap of the Go Code project, the first-of-its-kind social impact initiative in Hong Kong.

“This is my app, you have to make the ball fall into the hole without touching the wall,” said Marco Yuen while demonstrating his game to guests like Mr Daryl Ng from Sino Group and Mr Lam Ka-Tai from Social Welfare Department in the Go Code Project graduation ceremony.

Judging from how confident and proud the graduates looked, it’s hard to believe that they only learn coding for 4 months.  Many of them are from less privileged families where community centre or public library is the only place they can use a computer.

Despite the initial challenges, Marco, together with 14 Go Code students, successfully completed the four-month program and learned the basics of computer programming.

While kids learning to code is a trendy topic, what makes the Go Code project unique is that it is a social impact project co-organized by First Code Academy, Sino Group and YWCA Sham Shui Po Social Service Centre.

Learning how to code should be a right, not a privilege

If coding is the second language of the future, learning how to code should be a right, not a privilege.  Yet many children in underprivileged households do not have the opportunity to learn, as their family cannot afford extra curricular activities including coding programs.

First Code, together with Sino Group and YWCA HK, set out to teach 20 9-to-14-year-old students from less privileged families how to code in a semester.

Marco (left) and William (right) taking pictures in front of an apps kiosk with Michelle

Learning to code is only the means, not the end

Over the course of 12 weeks, students like Marco, Eunis and William grew from knowing only the basics of computer usage to sharing what the apps they made with other children and visitors.  In terms of coding skills, they also showed a lot of improvement as they moved from making simple apps with only one button to functional apps.

 Learning to think critically, tackling challenges with a logical mindset, mastering a new tool to express creativity, nurturing resilience by debugging a program many times; these are some of the benefits for kids to learn to code. 

In addition to learning to code, for kids, it’s about the skills, mentality and confidence that is gained in the process of learning.

It’s show time!

Apart from a TVB interview featuring our students (in Cantonese), we also hand-picked a few outstanding apps made by our Go Code graduates below. Enjoy!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=The2RAWOib8) TVB Jade, After School ICU Nov 18, 2014

Left: Speaking Droid by Eunis Choi Right: Ball in the Hole by Marco Yuen

2015: more students onboard

Looking into 2015, over 200 students will learn to code through the Go Code program. First Code, Sino Group will join forces with The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, WebOrganic and CityU Apps Lab to bring coding to the community.  We will be posting more updates soon on our Facebook and website.

What do you think of the Go Code initiative?  If your kids already know how to code, would you like to have him/her teach other children programming as a volunteer?  Please let us know by leaving some comments below. Would like to learn more!

[hellofirstcode]

From gamer to programmer, how Aiyana Campbell started coding inspired by Angry Birds

Aiyana Campbell, a 10-year-old girl from the Harbour School, shares her passion in coding and Lego with us in this blog post.

Aiyana working on an app for her school.

“(Coding) is about building and being creative and the output is kind of magical.”

Though her coding journey has been challenging at times, Aiyana believed the more problems she encountered, the better she became in solving them.

Aiyana has set her mind to continue to code and sees the beauty in combining hardware and software knowhow. “I love building stuff and engineering and hardware cannot go without software.” she said.

A word of encouragement to girls who are thinking to learn coding?  “I think coding suits girls actually. Girls have an eye for details and are generally more patient and like creating things,” said Aiyana.

“These are all great traits for coding.”

How did you start coding in the very beginning? Tell us more by leaving some comments below. 

Image source: Aiyana Campbell

Want to learn coding like Sarah and Aiyana did? Join our December Coding Camp and learn to write programs with fun tools like littleBits and Arduino. 

[hellofirstcode]

9 Gifts for Geeky Kids of All Ages

The holiday season is approaching quickly.  Looking for educational gifts for kids who love to tinker, create and build things, but no idea where to start from?

Age 3+ Robot Turtles (US$19.99)

Looking for tools to teach your 3-year-old coding?  Robot Turtles teaches programming fundamentals to kids WITHOUT a computer.

Designed to be played by a pair of adult and child, Robot Turtles introduces basic coding concepts like debugging and function to pre-schoolers with a set of tiles (e.g. bug tiles, obstacle tiles, jewel tiles and robot turtle tiles) and card decks.

Get it here. Age 6+ Goldie Blox and The Movie Machine (US$29.99)

Goldie Blox and The Movie Machine helps children to build up their spatial and problem-solving skills. By creating their own animations, children learn essential engineering principles like animation, drawing and zoetrope. 

Start making the next blockbuster this holiday!

Get it here.

Age 8+ Sphero 2.0 (US$99.99)

Think coding is a static activity?  Think again!  This holiday, surprise your child (and yourself) with Sphero 2.0, an app-controlled ball that combines coding, fun and speed in one colorful sphere.

Thanks to its easily accessible software development platform, Sphero 2.0 allows everyone to create their own apps and games. Ranging from voice control to a drone-connected Sphero, you can customize your Sphero to perform any task that you can think of.

Get it here.

littleBits Electronics Deluxe Kit (US$199)

How to get your kids interested in electronics, a topic that’s usually associated with textbooks filled with complicated symbols and charts?littleBits Electronics Deluxe Kit offers the fun and colorful solution.

By connecting different Bits (electronic modules) together with color-coded magnets, children can create virtually anything including a voice-controlled Lego Car, a sweater that emits LED lights and even robots.

What better way to decorate your home than having your unique Christmas tree with programmable LED lights on it?

Get your littleBits here.

Age 9+ Tinker Crate (Subscription-based, US$19.95/month)

For those who want to introduce your children to general STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields, Tinker Crate is here to do the job.

With a monthly subscription model, a new ‘crate’ containing step-by-step instructions, an information booklet and project materials arrives at your doorstep every month.  Following the guidelines, children create projects like a trebuchet and pick up STEM-related knowledge like motors and air resistance along the way.

Subscribe here and learn something new every month!   (Koala Crate and Kiwi Crate, two similar products from the same company, are also available for the age groups of 3 to 4 and 4 to 8 respectively.)

Age 14+ Parrot MiniDrone Rolling Spider (US$99.99)

If Sphero 2.0 can’t satisfy your action-loving kids, the Rolling Spider is all you need this holiday.

Thanks to its sensors, this smartphone-controlled drone can perform aviation tricks like barrel rolls and backflip easily with a double-tap on the screen.

The two attachable wheels on the side also give the drone extra ability to roll along the floor or the ceiling.  Together with a built-in camera underneath, the Rolling Spider is the ultimate holiday gift for young aviators.

Check out the demo video by TechCrunch and get it here.

For EVERYONE! MaKey MaKey (US$49.99)

With the goal of allowing anyone to become an engineer, MaKey MaKey is the invention kit for parents who want to share the joy of creation with their kids this holiday.

By clipping the circuit board onto any objects that’s mildly conductive, you can instantly turn most of the items (including your body) into a controller that further interacts with your computer. Banana piano, human percussion kit, edible national anthem, build your wildest ideas today with MaKey MaKey!

Get it here.

Kano (US$149.99)

With Kano, building your own computer has never been easier. Simply unbox the orange kit, combine the Lego-like parts, connect it to a monitor and you can start to code, create websites, compose music and make games on your own computer.

Looking for more apps or inspirations? With the Kano OS, you can explore hundreds of open-source apps with your kids.  Have a taste of Kano by making your own Pong game.

Get it here.

Bare Conductive Inventors Kit (US$142)

With the Electric Paint that comes inside the Inventors Kit, you can paint an electrical circuit anywhere, anytime.

Simply apply the toxic-free black paint with a brush, roller, pen or any tool, wait for a while till it dries and you can easily create electric wires on any objects you like.

Electro masks, interactive costumes, talking classroom display, the possibilities are endless!

Unleash your creativity today by getting your Inventors Kit here.

Did we miss any item on your shopping/wish list? What are you going to get for your tech-loving kid? Share with us by leaving some comments below!

Want to experience first hand some of these toys?  We have workshops on LittleBits, Sphero and other awesome educational toys this December.  Check them out here :) 

[hellofirstcode]

An aspiring fashion designer, Sarah Williams codes her way to the runway

[This is a beginning of a series of First Code student spotlights, sharing their journey of learning to code, trials and tribulations along the way. Join in the fun!] 

Like many girls of similar age, Sarah Williams, a Grade 6 student at Canadian International School in Hong Kong, loves trendy clothes and designer items. But what distinguishes Sarah is her ability to code.

Sarah and her brother, Tom, at the First Code Academy Demo Day, August 2014

Sarah began her coding journey a year ago with First Code Academy. After attending the first AppJamming Girls Who Code workshop, Sarah went on to take full semester classes and build apps using App Inventor, a kids-friendly coding language.

As part of her final project, Sarah made a family planning app which allows her family to better organize their lives. The app received enthusiastic response from the audience during First Code Academy’s Summer Demo Day.

Sarah presenting her Family Calendar app during the Summer Demo Day “I love (coding) because it lets me create games to entertain and it's special to me. Also I can make apps that I wish were on the App Store and they're free” said Sarah when sharing her thoughts on coding.

Like many programmers, Sarah encountered numerous difficulties along the way. “Sometimes I'll mix up the blocks or I'll get confused,“ recalled Sarah. With the support from her peers and instructors, she managed to solve the problem by creating an outline and breaking down problems into smaller pieces.

“Coding will be the language of the future so if I were you I'd get ahead of the game and start learning - and get creative!”

Looking into the future, Sarah believed coding remains relevant when she grow up to be a fashion designer, especially when dealing with lighting and special effects during fashion shows. In the moment, Sarah is planning to upgrade her fashion blog and make an app for it.

Sarah encouraged other girls who have not started to learn coding, “coding will be the language of the future so if I were you I'd get ahead of the game and start learning,” said Sarah.

“And get creative.”

What/who inspired you to learn computer programming? Please let us know by leaving some comments below!

Next week, another AppJamming alumnus is going to share her coding experience in First Code Academy. Stay tuned! 

Image sources: Sarah Williams, AppJamming workshop

Want to learn how to make your first app?  First Code team can help!  Sign up for our holiday camp or regular programs here. 

[hellofirstcode]

The Benefits of Learning Coding In Person Over Online

Why learn coding?

To answer that question, we need to understand why we learn coding initially. In First Code Academy, we believe computer programming is the literacy of our next generation. Our mission is to empower our next generation to become creators with technology, not just a consumer.

Just like any other languages, programming language is all about applying it in the right place at the right time with the correct syntax (grammar structure). While online coding sites like Codecademy teaches programming syntax in a way an exercise book teaches grammar, classroom learning offers opportunities for students to apply the syntax in a real world setting with instant feedback.

The classroom learning environment of First Code emphasizes hands-on learning. Take our First Code Explorer curriculum as example. Each term focuses on one personal project ranging from games like Flappy Bird to utility apps like Whatsapp to social apps like Instagram. By the end of the course, students will not only be able to make their own version of these popular apps, they also understand the concepts more deeply by applying them in the creation process.

Inquiry-based learning

The best way to learn is to get involved.  The assessment system of online platforms like Code School often emphasizes getting the right answer so as to move on to the next level.

However, most of the time in coding, there is no single right answer. 

Inquiry-based learning starts with a set of problems, questions or projects. Students learn the process of solving problems and search for a solution. 

In short, inquiry-based education is about “learning to learn”.

One example in First Code workshops is our App Entrepreneur Design Thinking Bootcamp. Inline with inquiry-based learning, design thinking is a methodology that stresses active empathizing and solution prototyping.

In this bootcamp, instead of just sitting in a series of lectures, students moved around the city to spot problems that interest them. Our students eventually came up with apps that help KELY Support Group, an NGO focusing on young people, to improve its communication channel.

Team learning

In contrast to the popular image that coding is a solitary sport, programming (or digital advances in general) is a team sport: Sergey Brin with Larry Page of Google, Bill Gates with Paul Allen of Microsoft, Steve Jobs with Steve Wozniak of Apple.

(Top left: Paul Allen and Bill Gates of Microsoft; Top right: Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs of Apple; Bottom: Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google) 

We encourage students to engage in pair programming.  This is a technique adopted across the tech industry, where two programmers work side by side using one computer: one person programs while the other reviews the code.  Apart from improving the efficiency and lowering the chance of having bugs, students also learn communication and collaboration skills.

Velocity + completion > perfection

One of our core values is Done is better than perfect.  We emphasize shipping products instead of having a perfect app that nobody has seen but ourselves.

On our online learning platform, our 300 students have submitted over 800 apps. In contrast, over 70% and 50% of users never finished a course on Codecademy and Coursera respectively.

We see the culture of “shipping” is reinforced by peer accountability, in-class commitment and teacher support.

With these advantages and disadvantages, the best way to learn coding, from our point of view, is the hybrid model that combines both online and classroom learning.  

If you’re a student, what strategies have been effective for you in learning to code?

If you’re a teacher, teaching coding in your classroom, what’s your teaching approach?

We’d love to hear from you in the comments!