How Block Coding Revolutionized Coding For Kids

We are currently living in a world in which most people agree to be going through the fourth industrial revolution. This is in part due to the advancement in automation and the creation of a machine structured workflow. While most of us are familiar with this advancement in technology that is happening on the frontline, we do not often care to think about the effort that is pulled through in the backend to make this possible. Each and every ease of access and workflow automation project is made possible through coding, it is the programmers who collaborate with other creative heads to help their vision come to life.

This is why coding for kids has been a widely discussed topic in recent years, experts are aware of the impact that programmers can bring forward in the future; one of the most effective ways to help children grow as skillful coders is by introducing them to the same at an early age.

This is where Block-Based coding found its footing in the programming field. Programming is a demanding task that requires an advanced level of computer knowledge and cognitive strain. A little too much to be asking for from the young minds. Block-based coding essentially uses a drag and drop format for learning the basics of programming. Here, the children can use this easier method of coding to create animations, games and blogs at ease.

As we are aware, coding can help children in developing problem-solving skills and improve their already existing analytical thinking abilities. But the typical coding language involves various different syntaxes that can be hard to introduce to a child, when compared that, Block coding can be considered as one of the most basic forms of programming that can act as the first milestone for a child to get started on their coding journey!

What Does Block Coding Look Like Then?

Well, just like LEGOs and Puzzles, block coding is also just a task of putting things together and forming something completely. When we deal with Block-based coding, children are subjected to blocks containing lines of code written in them that can be placed together to form complete coding sentences.

This obviously has an edge over overwritten code when it comes to coding for kids because, the children do not have to sit and write codes strenuously, rather they can spend their time experimenting with already written lines of codes and place them together to create the applications that they want to. One of the most popular examples of block-based coding is Scratch Jr which was developed by MIT.

Block-based coding provides a visual approach to coding in which children can see their process in real-time and make changes accordingly. It provides visual cues using premade groups of code. Ones that can be selected and modified as per the need of the creator.

History of Block Coding

Block-based coding was first introduced in the year 2003 when software called Scratch was developed in MIT as a basic computer language that can be used by children to learn the basics of coding. Going by this, Scratch can be seen as the pioneer of block-based coding that arose at the time; subsequently, there have been dozens of new block-based coding programs and ideas that were developed soon after the introduction of the software by MIT. At the time it was not only used by children for learning to code but also by programmers to create basic software because they didn’t have to sit through hours of typing out each and every word and symbol.

Scratch as a Programming Language.

When the term Scratch is mentioned, there is a possibility that you think about the language as a beginner accessory that serves no real purpose in the real working world, but Scratch is ranked as the 19th most popular computer programming language in the world. Scratch allows the user to formulate personalized interactive stories that can help in developing creative traits and out of box thinking in the minds of the children. These interactive stories can be portrayed with you playing the main character of the fiction as well.

Scratch has an amazing community that is available 24/7 to help children share and explore their coding ideas and interests. When they are stuck at a part of a project, the children can collaborate with other like-minded people from the community to help them out. The scratch community is very child-friendly and the MIT Lab puts out extra effort to ensure this.

Although Scratch is generally aimed at children from the age of 8–11 the older people can use the software too, to understand the concepts of coding and how a machine understands commands, and how to give inputs to make the same happen. This is true in the case of all block-based programming languages. Even universities sometimes use Scratch and other block-based coding software as part of their computer science introductory courses

Blocks 101

Now we’ll talk about the main star of the show, which is the “blocks” in the block-based software. We’ll use the blocks in Scratch as an example to discuss further. The blocks in Scratch are defined as Looks Blocks, Sound blocks, and Motion Blocks.

Motion blocks are used to control the direction and movement of the images from scratch, this block can be used to move and control the images to direct them to a certain position as the user desires.

Look blocks are to be used when the user wants to change the appearance of the characters (sprites) in Scratch. The user is given the ability to change the character’s costumes, size, and graphical effects. These, when used correctly, can be guided to display special characters or events as the user deems necessary.

Finally, we have Sound Blocks that can be used to add sounds to a story that the child is interacting with, or to a game that they are playing.

These blocks can help to provide an entertaining learning experience for children are who are new to the concept of programming and provide them with a familiarity and necessary understanding for when they move on to other advanced programming languages

Block-Based Learning Today.

In the present day, there are lots of programming software and courses that function with block-based coding as a route map to teaching children/beginners how to code. This innovative idea of learning the basics of code has helped eliminate the monotonicity of learning a new language. The development of newer block-based coding programs has made a significant impact in teaching coding for kids, due to its straightforward nature and easily achievable results.

The gamified approach to teaching that software like Scratch has adopted helped children to be interested in the creation of software through coding; as well as in the actual process of programming as well, because children and adults alike, learn better through play.