Do Your Students Want to Learn to Code?

Send Them to Khan Academy

by guest columnist Caroline Ross

also published on Di's Blog: ICT in Education

Khan Academy, a popular free online education provider, recently launched a new interactive computer science education program. This program is specifically geared toward preteens and young teens who already know the very basics of algebra, but it's challenging and entertaining enough for adults who want to learn the basics of JavaScript coding. According to sources at Tech Crunch, the president of Khan Academy, Shantanu Sinha, created the new program to help get kids interested in the field of computer science.

The computer science education program now offered by Khan Academy is the first interactive program Khan has developed. Most of Khan's available content consists of educational videos about a variety of subjects. Since people often learn best by doing, this new computer science program is expected to be one of Khan Academy's best and most far-reaching.

Khan Academy's computer science lessons start with the very basics of writing code and slowly lead up to more complicated JavaScript tasks. In each lesson, students are taught a concept with a video and then referred to an activity. In each activity, learners are given the option to edit relevant code and manipulate various digital images and games according to instructions. For instance, in one of the lesson's activities, students are asked to make a Pokémon character look angry. In order to do so, students have to alter the available code to change the height and width of the cartoon character's eyes and mouth.

The Khan computer science lessons and activities don't totally familiarize students with everything they need to know to start working as JavaScript gurus, but they do cover a pretty impressive amount of basic concepts. Once a student completes the Khan computer science education program, he or she should be able to create and edit basic images, animations, and games in JavaScript. If a 12-year-old learns how to complete those basic programming tasks, he or she will definitely be ahead of the curve.

If you're a teacher with students who are interested in learning to code, sending them to the Khan Academy is definitely a great idea. If you're working with students in high school or gifted and talented middle schoolers, you may also want to refer them to Codeacademy's interactive JavaScript education program, which goes into more advanced areas of coding.
It's definitely not easy to get most kids (or adults, for that matter) interested in computer science. Khan Academy is one of the first online computer science education programs to make programming relatively easy and fun. It will be interesting to see how Khan Academy continues to make the STEM subjects more appealing and accessible in the future.

Caroline Ross is a freelance writer for several education and career websites, including AccreditedOnlineUniversities.com . In order to inspire and inform people about the importance of education and seeking your calling in life, Caroline writes many articles about preparing for college, career planning and getting the right training for a job.