Children going digital: What the studies show

Today we have some interesting studies to talk about, and what this means for children and devices today. Note that this research comes from UK and the US. Of course, there will be differences in how these statistics play out in your country, but we can get some valuable information from these studies to help understand the state of children using technology today.

The first study comes from the event organizers of Gadget Show Live Christmas. They estimate that children in the UK gain access to devices as early as nine years old. Between the ages of eight to nine, they get their first cellphones, laptops, TVs, mp3 players, digital cameras and game consoles.

To put all this in perspective, children aged eight to nine years old are experiencing middle childhood. Most of us know and associate this with puberty, but this is also the time when children go through the phase called adrenarche, which affects their mental growth. At this age range, children are better able to think for themselves, and ready to understand the world in their own terms. In other words, children at this age are at about the right age to start owning these devices.

However, this study only refers to averages and we can assume that children have some access, even ownership, of devices earlier (or in some cases later) than this. If your child is not yet eight, but is already playing with your iPad or using social networks like Moshi Monsters or Club Penguin, that is not a bad thing.  You will want to control those interactions so that they can learn and develop from them the best they can. Outside of that concern, if your child expresses interest in devices at a young age, you should encourage that interest but set proper limits.

Some speculation on this data is that parents are more willing to give their children devices at a young age because they demonstrate that they master these devices quickly and with great facility. I think it is actually common sense to assume children will quickly learn how to use the latest devices in their generation, in the same way that children in the 1980s were quick in learning how to use Commodore 64 and Apple ][gs computers. It should not be a concern for parents, in the same way that the earlier generation of parents should not have been worried about their children quickly learning how to use the first personal computers.

Another recent study, this time coming from US research company Nielsen, made a survey of the most sought after devices for children for the next six months. They publicly released results for children surveyed from ages six to twelve as well as ages thirteen above. Please note that the survey limitations do not specify that children prefer the iPhone 5 over the 4S, nor does it name nonphysical brands like Windows 8 or Facebook.

Overall, interest in devices is moderate and relatively spread out, with the Apple iPad being the most popular device. The iPad is sought after by 48 % of children aged six to twelve and then 12 % of children aged thirteen above. Both age groups still display a high interest in the general heading "computer", which we can sagely assume refers to both desktop and laptop computers.

In both age ranges, Apple devices like the iPad, iPod Touch, iPad mini and iPhone are the most overwhelming favorites. Interestingly enough, the Wii U also ranks very well, coming in as the 2nd most popular for ages six to twelve, and the fourth most popular for older children.

Apple does not necessarily sell their devices to children, however, they get a lot of interest from children because of the inescapability and strength of their branding. As those children get older, they become more discriminating, and that interest in devices gets spread out more.

If we're looking at new devices launched this year, the big winners are the iPad mini and the Wii U, while the Microsoft Surface (RT) and the Playstation Vita falters. All have received mixed reception, so it is worthwhile to look at each device in some detail if they are good devices for your child.

The iPad mini is the first tablet in the iPad line to come in a smaller form factor. Apple says it retains all of the iPad's functionalities in a 7.9 inch form factor. The smaller size does not make it that much cheaper, and Apple did not make it any more kid-friendly than the regular sized iPad, but for being an Apple device, it is still a premium product.

The Wii U is Nintendo's latest video game console, and the latest console to come out in six years. It has innumerable unique features, like a touchscreen controller, social network, and media streaming, but is arguably at the same technological level as current consoles. Early reception has been mixed thanks to some issues at launch, but it is still sold out.

The Microsoft Surface RT is Microsoft's first foray into the PC hardware market. Microsoft describes it as their take on tablets, and this one runs Windows on ARM architecture. The Surface also has enticing exclusives, such as extremely durable VaporMg casing and bundled Office software. However, it has seen negative critical reception and limited sales. The Surface Pro, which will have all the features of a laptop, will be launched this coming March.

Lastly, the Playstation Vita is Sony's latest portable gaming device. The Vita is brimming with high end technical specs, control options, and some good games, but suffers from steep entry costs. Unlike these other products, the Vita has been in the market for a while, and failed to sell well, at what is a bad time for Sony. In response, the company launched initiatives like Playstation Mobile and Playstation Plus.

This survey gives more proof that children are highly tech savvy. Of course, they are also oblivious to the high cost of entry for these devices, between $ 250 (Vita standalone or in a bundle) and $ 700 (64 GB Surface RT with Type Cover). Even if you have the money to buy these devices, at their current prices, you need to consider them as long term investments. When talking about buying these devices for your children, consider if they are ready to learn taking responsibility for them.

What do you think about these surveys? Do you have a child you think is ready to own one of these devices? Would you get them one of these devices, or something else? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Windows 8 and its new Family Safety features

Windows 8 has come out, in OEM computers as well as the Microsoft Surface RT. It has received a mixed recption, but a lot of it is positive buzz on many things Microsoft got right and is innovating on. Windows Phone 8 has also been unveiled, with much of the same qualities and features the Windows RT OS has.

While Windows 8 is still too raw and untested to recommend, it has one noteworthy feature of interest to parents. Whether you are getting a Windows 8 phone, tablet, computer, some or all of these devices, you will get the benefit of its new Family Safety features across the board.

Windows Phone 8's safety features are simplest to explain, so we'll start with that. As ably demonstrated by Joe Belfiore, Windows' new Kid's Corner feature makes child safety in smartphone child proof, not to mention parent forgetfulness proof.

Kid's Corner was conceived in the most commonsense way. Microsoft noted how parents often share their phones to their children so that they can play games with them. Curious children might try to explore the phone, but most of the time they really only use a few select apps. You definitely don't want kids shopping around for new apps and buying them on your own.

Kid's Corner is accessible by a swipe to the left and up. Children can access it even when the phone is locked. You, the parent and phon user, get to choose what apps are accessible to your child via Kid's Corner. It is so well thought out that it makes you wonder why Microsoft or its competitors had not thought of it earlier.

For Windows 8 and Windows RT, Parental Controls have been rebuilt from the ground up, and rebranded as Family Safety. Unlike Kid's Corner, Parental Controls offers more flexibility for older children, and adds new monitoring features.

In previous versions of Windows, Parental Controls were limited to making new user accounts for children and then placing limitations on what other user accounts are able or unable to do. In this way, parents were already able to enable web filtering, limit access to programs, files and folders and even remote monitoring.

However, this approach could be inconvenient for families, as every time a child needed to download, install or access a program they needed to get their parent to use administrator accounts to do so. Not all children need to be monitored so closely, and this has surely caused problems, especially for children who bring their laptops to school. Optimizing Parental Controls often required downloading more programs as well.

In Windows 8, Microsoft takes it one step further and allows parents to monitor their children's computer activity. When you make your children their user accounts as administrator, you just have to check a tick box to indicate that it become a kid's account.

When you set a user account as a child's account, Windows will start emailing you activity reports for said child account. You are told which websites they go to, how much time they spend on the computer, which programs they use the most, et cetera. No need to constantly be at your child's shoulder anymore since you will easily get this information automatically.

The reports are intuitive and easy to understand, but more notably, have links for configurable settings built right into it. Yes, administrator accounts can make changes to user accounts remotely, thanks to Windows 8 accounts being connected online automatically. You do not even have to go to your child's computer to change Family Safety controls on it.

In this way, Microsoft wants to encourage parents to adopt a 'monitor first' policy with their children. Children are allowed to explore their computers and use it freely first. If you find that children are using their computers too much, or find other activity you want to control, you can then make changes in their accounts. Microsoft has set it up in such a way that you can afford to wait until your child makes a mistake. This is great for children too; they get the benefit of the doubt and allows them conditional freedom to use their computers.

Between Kid's Corner and Family Safety, Microsoft has established new standards for making device usage family friendly. I sincerely hope Apple, Android, Ubuntu and its many other competitors copy these features as close as they can, and Microsoft allow them to simulate them unfettered. These are fantastic new ways of thinking of and implementing parental controls, that provide both parents and children more options and convenience.

What do you think of these new parental controls? Are there other features you think tech companies should add? What issues have they yet to address? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Should you get your child NOOK Kids?

Introduction

One exciting opportunity children now have with modern technology when it comes to learning is children's ebooks. Although several companies provide their own versions of this service, we will be focusing on NOOK Kids, which has become extremely popular and succesful particularly in publishing children's books online. This article will not be a review of NOOK tablets, or the NOOK ebook service in general. We will get into the differences between ebooks and real books for a little bit, but we will be talking primarily about the NOOK Kids service.

What is NOOK Kids?

NOOK Kids is a publishing platform for children's books under retailer Barnes & Noble. Originally exclusive to NOOK devices, B&N has expanded the service to work on Apple devices, Android, PC, and even the open web. NOOK Kids books use B&N's proprietary ePib format, developed by Automata. This format adds various interactive elements to ebooks appropriate to early reading levels.

As a major retailer, B&N's portfolio of books is extensive. From Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter to Richard Scarry, you are sure to find a book that suits your child, regardless of age or reading level. B&N has signed up the big children's book publishers like HarperCollins and Random House and has access to 12,000 books.

Although B&N as adopted multiple platforms, NOOK Kids is designed to work best on NOOK tablets. Some books are only available there, and some features are also removed in certain platforms. For example, highlighting and adding bookmarks, and abilities like pinch and zoom, are available in the NOOK tablet, as well as the iPhone and Android tablet apps, but not in the web.

ePib

Use of ePib comes with a price, and that price ranges from $ 0.99 to $ 25. On average, books cost around $ 5 to $ 6, although you may find yourself paying top dollar for classics like "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", which currently retails for $ 9.99. You can get these books cheaper in stores, especially if you buy them used.

So what do you really pay for when you buy books in NOOK Kids? For one, Nook Kids allows you to make profiles, personalizing libraries and setting parental controls per child. There are also additional features exclusive to ePibs, and you really would not be able to duplicate outside Nook. Books labeled "Read To Me" will read the book aloud. "Read and Play" Books go a step further and come with small games and activities built right into the story. However, the most useful feature is "Read and Record", which allows families to record themselves telling the stories. Parents can retell stories over and over, and kids can even add their own voices in.

Unlike regular NOOK or other online bookstores, you cannot lend out ebooks in your NOOK Kids library. It also does not have rentals, or a Spotify model which would let you pay a monthly fee for instant access to several books. You can only pay full retail for these books.

Barnes & Noble does have seasonal promotions that offer great value. For example, this year they had a Summer Reading Program, which gave new purchasers of Nook Tablets free access to several summer books, including bestsellers and classics. There are also some free books along with $ 0.99 books.

eBooks versus real books

This is where we get to the crux of the matter. Choosing to use NOOK Kids is a decision between real books and ebooks. You can of course continue to buy some real books while using a NOOK Kids account, but the decision you are really making here is if it is worthwhile to use the NOOK Kids service at all.

ePibs provide real value. Some features it adds, like Slide and Find, duplicate functions kids could do on real ebooks, while others, like pinch and zoom to focus on pictures, are only available on the new platform.

Of course, it should be abundantly clear that NOOK Kids cannot duplicate certain features of real books. Pop-up books, Scratch and sniff books and sticker books are just some examples of books that cannot be duplicated on a tablet, not really. Beyond that, even if your child has become very familiar and used to reading off LED screens, they will have to be accustomed to reading on paper as well. And of course, some people have nostalgia for the act of collecting and owning books, although this experience varies.

In the end, eBooks are an entirely new entity compared to physical books. The convenience of having multiple books available from an online library will make book collecting convenient, and you can cherry pick titles you will give to your child as physical copies. There is a high possibility that you will end up buying your child's favorite books in their NOOK Kids account physically as well.

Final Word

As is the case with other new tech and media services, you should get NOOK Kids only if you can afford it. NOOK Kids is a great platform on its own, giving you reasonable access to a wide library of titles, and with many new features. However, there is nothing wrong with still buying and using real books. In fact, children also stand to learn from the experience of collecting books and building up their own libraries.

Also remember that your ownership, or your child's ownership of these ePibs, is in the same shaky legal ground that ownership of your iTunes library is in. You should think of NOOK as a service more than a product. Although you will generally have control over the books that you have purchased through NOOK Kids, remember that there is always that possibility that you will lose access or control over those books. Read the Digital Content provision under Barnes & Noble's Terms and Conditions so you have a better understanding of what you would be signing up for.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/include/terms_of_use.asp

NOOK Kids is new and has many limitations, but it is already a great service. For parents, it's worth purchasing a NOOK Tablet to access all its features, but you can opt to use other platforms you already own.

What do you think of NOOK Kids? Would you buy children's books online? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Should you get your child an iPhone 5?

iPhone Girl. picture by flickr user merfam / Jason Meredith

Bear in mind that this is not a conventional review of the iPhone 5, rather, our focus here is if it is a good device for children. We won't go through all the new features the phone has, or if it's a good value at its price and compared to its competitors. There is no lack of that information on other technology sites. Now that that's been cleared up, here we go:

What's in a smartphone?

The iPhone 5 is the latest in Apple's series of smartphones. As a smartphone, it features a touch control interface, a sleek and practical design, cameras, and what amounts to a microcomputer inside a phone. More than making calls or sending text messages, smartphones can access the internet wirelessly and download applications from a proprietary store that handle practically any task you can think of. The iPhone comes with incremental and significant improvements from the iPhone 4S, including a bigger screen, a lighter build and a new custom SOC/integrated circuit called A6.

Parental controls

Every new iPhone comes with improved features every time, but when we're talking child safety, changes are subtler, but still good to note. From iOS 5 to iOS 6, parental controls are significantly improved. iOS 5 started parental restrictions, allowing you to control which apps they can install, whether they can delete software, etc. iOS 6 adds to that Guided Access, allowing you to disable certain parts of the User Interface itself, as well as Single App Mode, which keeps the phone locked into the current app so a child would not be able to move it somewhere else.

Now, here's the truth; the changes iOS 6 adds make the iPhone 5 safer for children, but it's not necessarily safe or sufficient per se. All you get to do is open or close up access to an app or a feature on the phone. If all you used were Apple's default parental controls, you had to choose between giving your child access to the web or not at all. Of course, other applications would benefit from limited, not necessarily closed controls.

A recent study reveals that Android is actually a safer OS than iOS. It gives you more things to control, and a greater degree of control over them. If you already own an Android device, you may want to consider giving you child access to that instead. If you just want to give your child an iPhone, however, there should be no reason to worry. 3rd party apps can compensate and give iOS 6 the layer of parental controls you need, as well as older iPhone models. If there's anything Apple is known for, it's having a robust App store.

Should you track your child through your phone?

Speaking of apps, one of the more popular types of child safety apps allows you to track down the phone holder and tell you where it is at all times. This feels a need for some, but I would tell most parents to think twice before acquiring it. There are debatable issues at play here, involving autonomy, safety and control. If your child spends a lot of time away from you, for whatever reason, you may want to make use of this feature. In general, I would suggest you tell your child that you have made use of the app. They will trust you better, and may even help you out.

What Sherry Turkle says about gadgets and families

Beyond these surface issues, before you go ahead and buy this device, I would once again cite the work of technology - sociology expert Sherry Turkle. As she explained in her book 'Alone Together', iPhones, tablets, computers and other high tech devices may have adverse affects to the quality, particularly duration, of your personal relationships. Even when we connect with each other via apps and social networks, we may not be making the close connections desired in a family setting.

Now, Turkle is often misinterpreted as generally being down on gadgets, but that's definitely not the case. Rather, she wants users to not just think about how devices improve our lives, but how the devices, in turn, shape our lives, change our behaviors. Do you want devices to shape your child's life from an early age?  Many parents 'lend' children their devices to play games or use fun apps. It sounds like a cheap and sensible way to make use of the phone's capabilities, but is this the best approach to introducing your child to these gadgets? As parenting experts will tell you abundantly, these activities are OK for your child in moderation, and they still benefit more from being allowed to play outside and make friends with other children.

Final Considerations:

Ultimately, when deciding to buy your child an iPhone 5, age is not as important as autonomy and independence. You will have to make that call if and when your child is ready to own their own iPhone 5. Even if you don't buy it for them, you should make serious consideration of when you 'lend' your iPhone 5 to your child. What applications are you allowing them to use and how long do they get to play it? As easy and convenient as it can be, your iPhone is not a nanny.

So, with all that taken into consideration, should you get your child an iPhone 5? It is a flashy, well engineered, easy and fun to use device, so on that point alone, it's a good purchase for your child. Whether you should get one, or give it to your child to completely own, is entirely up to your discretion.

Learning Kits for Kids

Gakken EX-150 denshi blocks. via flickr user Collin Mel.
Click on pic to see more.

Our cover photo above is from Gakken's EX-System electronic educational kit. These are denshi blocks, small Lego like pieces that actually had electric components in them that can be connected in a way that they would react with each other. The kit was reissued in 2002.

 Learning Kits teaching children how to program have been around since the 60s. However, today's learning kits take into account better understanding of how children learn, better aesthetic and utilitarian designs, improvements in technology, and ease of access (thanks to electronic stores) to provide better learning experiences. What's most noteworthy about today's generation of learning kits is how its become so much earlier for kids to learn to create their own devices. Even if they're not old enough to be allowed to solder, they can start programming and assembling their own toys. This philosophy has also been expanded to other kinds of toys, so we'll look at a few of the learning kits available today

Littlebits

Littlebits has been featured in this blog before. Littlebits are electronic modules that connect to each other via magnets. This clever little solution provides kids the flexibility to think outside the box and enables experimentation.

Littlebits are made possible due to the sudden lowering in costs of microcontrollers, a technology that has been around since the 70s. Microcontrollers are what runs our TVs, microwaves, VCRs, etc. Each Littlebits module contains a microcontroller, offering scalable miniaturized power. Each module provides different functions, like LED lights, motors, etc., and so the potential to make practically anything is there.

Nerdkits

Nerdkits are a very similar product to Littlebits, with enough differentiation between them to be a viable alternative.

If Littlebits give you the freedom to make what you want, Nerdkits are designed to have everything you need out of the box. Nerdkits also provide complete instructions, a USB cable to connect it to the computer for programming and even a miniature LCD screen that provides feedback as you create your projects.

Nerdkits are for those who need to learn via organized structures. Although this initially seems limiting, what it really amounts to is a different teaching style, and one that may fit your child's better than the Littlebits approach. So, for example, if you find your child doesn't understand Littlebits enough to make them work, or get frustrated by them, they may prefer to take learning one step at a time, as Nerdkits will let them. Of course, both kits are flexible enough that you can adapt your child's learning experiences with them to however it best suits them.

Roominate

Roominate is a new generation of science oriented girls toys. In spite of my glowing praise for Computer Engineer Barbie a while back, there are limitations to how forward looking that toy was. Particularly, it would be beneficial to have more progressive and science oriented toys for girls.

Enter Roominate: Toys for Girls. Roominate encourages children to design rooms from scratch, but more than arranging furniture, they get to install the electrical lines. It gets exciting when they connect the rooms to each other and add in gadgets that actually use the power, like miniature fans.

Roominate makes the business of building rooms fun with brightly colored, attractive looking pieces. What makes Roominate really progressive is that boys can play it, but its clear that it was designed for girls. By virtue of a conceit what looks like the job of a homemaker actually is closer in approach to interior design, even engineering.

Little Librarian

Lastly, we come to Little Librarian. Why get your child a toy about making a library, some of you may ask. Aren't libraries going to go the way of the phone booth soon enough?

But this toy isn't about turning back the hands of time. Whether libraries are obsolescenced in the next decade or not, there's some real learning children can get from thinking about their books as not just a personal collection, but a library.

Playing librarian will make your children feel more responsible for their belongings, and also teach them to organize and take care of their things. There's also an opportunity to play with friends and family as they lend our books and even host storytime sessions.

What learning kits have you bought for your kids and would recommend? Share your favorites with us below.

How to teach parents to teach kids math

Hate math? No surprise there, we’ve all been there before.  However, there is no question that math is one of those essential skills in modern living, and so we all have to learn it, and so do our children.

For parents who are bad at math, having children who are also bad at math is a challenge. So maybe they inherited that from you, what can you do? Are you even qualified to teach what you yourself are not very good at? Shouldn’t you just leave this to their teachers? Isn’t that the best way to handle this?

In fact, educators nowadays advocate parents be more proactive in teaching their children math, regardless of their own skill level in it. Even if you can’t claim proficiency in the subject, as an authority figure there are ways you can influence your child’s attitudes, behaviors and ultimately their own proficiency in math.

Sue Shellenbarger recently wrote in the New York Times about how math phobic parents can teach math to their children. Let us expound on this news article so that you, the layman parent, can better understand how you can teach math to your kids, no matter what your own skill level is.

Many parents themselves have math anxiety

First things first, you shouldn’t feel alone.  Many parents feel the same way about math as you do. Many are dependent on their accountants or programs to take care of a lot of the computations they depend on in daily living.

However, that many people have math anxiety does not excuse it.

Math anxiety is real phenomenon, affects even teachers

Math anxiety is not just a personal problem, it’s a social attitude people foster among each other, among many people without even knowing it. Sadly, even math teachers help spread math anxiety, although to be fair not all of them are even aware this phenomenon exists. If you told your child you know math is hard, you’ve already done the damage to them.

But no worries! You can definitely correct it.

Math myths

There are a few math myths we need to address here, so that you can address them when your child asks or demonstrates belief in them:

1     Math is a talent.

If math really were a talent, babies would know the numbers one to ten out of the womb. No, math is a skill, and like other skills, some people were proven better at learning it than others, but it’s reasonable to assume most children will learn enough of the basics of math to get them through life.

2   Math is all about logic.

Math is all about logic, versus art which is all about creativity. Except the discovery of the Archimedes principle is often held up as proof and demonstration of Archimedes’ creativity. Archimedes, who is renowned as the greatest mathematician of the ancient world.

Math appears to be about logic on the surface level, but the best mathematicians, beyond rote memory and mechanically following logical systems, understand the role of the creative impulse in the formulation of problems and finding solutions. You have to teach to your child the value of using their imagination in solving math problems.

3  Math is about getting the right answer.

Math is about getting the right answer. If you saw the answer key without meaning to, and then go back to the problem and figure out how to get to the solution, that’s good enough, right? If your teacher explains what you did wrong and you understand it all afterward, that’s all that counts, right?

The problem with this attitude is it misses the point of learning math, which is that you’re supposed to learn how to do it for yourself. If a watchmaker didn’t understand every little bit of how a watch works, if they made a mistake assembling that watch they wouldn’t know how to fix it. But their fellow watchmaker who learned it right would be able to do it. Math is about learning how to get the right answer. That way, you don’t have to depend on others to give it to you.

4 A demographic is better at math than B demographic

                I’ll be charitable and not name a particular demographic, but you know what these are. Some people have biases that make them think people of a certain race, or sex, or both, or some other demographic, are better at math than they are. It gives them a reason to excuse themselves for not being good at math, and ultimately this is related to the idea that math is a talent you’re born with.

                In spite of the overlap, I felt it necessary to bring it up here because it’s a terrible thing to believe, and yet kids are likely to think that way. Make sure to address biases like these in your children, and really, keep them focused on the end goal; not being one with the best grades, but knowing what you need to know.

Focus on learning to think of it as process, love to do the process

So now we get into how to actually teach your children. The idea is to put the spotlight on the steps needed to get to the solution.

In plain terms, when you ask a question like 2+1=?, you don’t pressure them into giving you the ?, you make them think about the 2, and then the 1, and then the process of adding them to get to the answer.

Like I mentioned earlier, getting the right answer takes a backseat to learning how to get it. Don’t be discouraged if they don’t get the right answers, that will come in time as they understand the concepts better. And they will reach those goalposts sooner if they like doing math.

If you’re not good at math, be forthcoming to your child about it

Now, here is a great challenge. Say they look to you for help in your math homework, but you already know you might make mistakes. Don’t tell them you’re too busy to help, because they will seek you out when they figure you are free. If you’re straightforward about this at the start, they will respect you more and you will save them the time. Have them go to their teacher for help, or if you have a neighbor or relative who can help, point your child towards them.

On the flip side, you can turn this to your advantage. You can have them teach you, and then pay them as an incentive. Sue shares a great example of a mother who had her son teach her his algebra syllabus. He had to write his answers in such a way that she would understand the process, and when he failed to do that, she made him repeat until he did it right.

Math will be more important in world your child grows up in

Of course, we all benefit from the use of math in one everyday application everyone needs to do: accounting. However, this is a relatively basic skill, and one that many people bypass completely by hiring help. An advanced knowledge in math will assist your child in ways it would not have affected you.

Math is important in high paying careers, such as finance and programming. The demand for quants in Wall Street remains high, even as Wall Street itself continues to shrink. Quants are desirable for their ability to make complex financial calculations, which are then used in assessing investment decisions. Having a quant can make the difference in the rise and fall of a business.

Programmers play a key role in the biggest growth industry of the day: technology. Getting those coveted jobs in places like Google, Microsoft and Apple won’t just get your child paid well, it will also put them in a position where they can help shape the future. And at their core, all good programmers are good mathematicians.

Math also plays a major role in creative careers, such as photography and painting, and even being a fitness trainer or crime investigator requires good math skills.

Make them think of math as a natural, ubiquitous part of daily life

Ultimately, it’s about fostering this attitude that lets them see math everywhere they go. Sue Shellenbarger has a good example: when you’re driving and the child asks: “Are we there yet?”, you try to look at the markers in the road and calculate it for them. And then you tell them how to arrive at the answer. Any questions they may have, you try to answer to the best of your ability, and if you can’t, you ask them to formulate the question to see if they can figure it out.

Subsequently, you can tell them the story of the Archimedes principle the next time you give your child a bath, and encourage them to look at patterns, and things that can be counted, or added and substracted, all around them. Fractions are an obvious topic around the kitchen.

How to learn coding

iPhone and Apple IIgs programmer Lim Ding Wen, 13.
source: Wikimedia Commons

Introduction

I initially wrote an article on how children can learn coding, with different programs and online learning initiatives readily available. However, objections to the value and extent of why people should learn to code have emerged, and become a cause of debate in the coding community.

Aside from this, people have also raised concerns on the viability of coding self study. Today, I’ll try to address those issues so you have realistic goals and expectations in teaching your children coding.

Why study coding

This question surprisingly suddenly became very controversial in the coding community, stemming from the initial optimism garnered by the Code Year project. New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg surprisingly tweeted that he had signed up for the project. As Code Year’s critics point out, how could Bloomberg make use of his coding training as a mayor? After all, his job does not require programming at all. And so, the same argument is leveled as to why the general public should need to learn programming.

But I disagree. Like others have pointed out, people get more value from coding outside of work. Coding teaches people how to think about designing things a particular way. From this point of view, coding is a creative endeavor. These sentiments have been expressed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and others.

Aside from that, coding is important to learn to understand how programs work. And in this age where we depend so much on devices for our daily living, it’s important to have a rudimentary idea on how coding works, in the same way that we should learn in school that the world is round, pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference by its diameter, and World War II is the single most far reaching event in modern history.

It can also be argued that, to a certain extent, anyone can learn coding as a hobby, and make use of rudimentary coding to make simple programs and applications for personal use. This may or may not lead to a career in programming, but they would still have benefited from having learned.

Why coding self study

Now, to more practical concerns. As a response to this emerging need for more people to learn coding, several organizations have come up with initiatives to help people learn code. Some of these have been designed to encourage self study, and even incorporate ideas like gamification and social. Among these initiatives, the most prominent are Google Code University, Khan Academy and Code Year.

These courses are meant for adults, so I won't elaborate on them here. Suffice to say they represent a growing push for more people to learn to program. I muddled in each of these three a little bit, but I'm going to focus on Code Year because I've discovered something I think everyone who wants to learn to code, young or old.

The problem with self study

Unfortunately, I’ve personally run across with some problems trying to learn myself using Code Year. Like everyone else, I had that initial spark of enthusiasm reading their press releases and blog posts. We can all learn to code now! I can learn to code now, online, by myself!

When you get in, you find a lot of things set up for you to ease use. The right hand side features a console, while the left side features the lessons, given out in small increments of instructions. There are also quick and easy links to a glossary, a Q&A forum, and a scratch pad. For the first few lessons, everything seems easy and fun.

However, that spark would fizzle away the deeper I went in. There’s a mid point where the lessons become more complex, and answers are no longer self-evident. For several of these lessons, I found myself cheating and going straight to the Q&A forum. I would eventually find the answer there, but laid out for me so that I did not have to figure it out on my own. Professional programmers have likewise noted the limitations with the self-study model Code Year has implemented.

Not to oversimplify things, but even as I looked up the other self study programs implemented by other organizations, I saw that they didn’t even have the inital incitements that Code Year has. Even if you were only doing this for fun, it’d be hard to sustain interest in coding using any of these initiatives.

How to best learn coding

So I think, at least for the moment, that these self-study initiatives can be very powerful learning tools, but aren’t good enough on their own. The ideal solution, really, is to have an actual coder go through the lessons with you to cover for whatever shortcomings these lessons have.

Of course, that’s missing the point of self study programs in the first place, and many aspiring coders probably don’t know other coders. I would make a comparison to learning a language; you can study and practice on your own, but the best way to learn and remember is if you study with other people who already know, and to keep applying what you’ve learned.

To sum, since these lessons are setup online, it’s viable to find a coder who would want to help teach you online, possibly in a programming/coding forum, or you could try looking in your social networks.

How children can best learn coding

I’ve outlined the reasons why anyone should learn to code. The need to understand how coding affects the world is especially most relevant to children. However, these self-study programs come with their own challenges that affect most people, and set the bar even higher for children. So, how should children learn how to code?

My advice, outside of the websites and programs I’d recommended earlier, is to provide children a strong support system. If your child is fortunate in that you’re a programmer yourself or you know someone who can teach him or her, you should arrange for a tutorial.

I also suggest you form a class for coding study. It will be more worth the effort if more people will benefit, plus that will be a more solid support system. If you can build a class of people in the same age group, that could make it easier for the class to relate to each other, but either way is fine.

If coders aren’t directly available to teach, you should make the effort to find a mentor online. I’m not saying it’s impossible to learn on your own, but you have to avoid the situation where you’re stuck in the middle or your learning is incomplete because you did not get a single lesson right.

Beyond learning

This may not be self-evident to everyone, so to be clear: you do not want to learn how to code for code's sake. Coding is utilitarian for everyone who uses computers, so use what you've learned to build applications you can use, even simple ones.

I'm not saying you should feel obligated to make something professional. Even if you're just running a few simple macros, say, to open a reminder on a particular time, then you've already made use of what you've learned. Even if no practical uses immediately come to mind, you should have that developer mindset after learning how to code.