Digital Edge at LCA: Elementary school students learn secrets of computer language
Article written by Stephen Milligan, The Tribune
Computers, everyone had been told, are the wave of the future but the future arrived long ago.
Now, computers are essential in almost every aspect of life throughout the nation and the country's young people are on the frontlines learning to navigate this new digital landscape.
While it’s a well-worn joke by now that the best way to troubleshoot a machine is to ask a child, today’s young people are more and more familiar with technology that leaves their elders at a loss. With smartphones in their hands almost as soon as they can walk and an entire language of machines at their fingertips, kids are learning the ways of the computer tribe ever earlier.
At Loganville Christian Academy, students are getting a leg up on this virtual frontier with help from the school’s new Code Club.
A worldwide initiative to teach computer coding to students in classrooms all over the globe, Code Club is offering the same techniques to a new crop of students at LCA.
Designed for students ages 9 through 11, the free club has students engaged as they try to master the secrets of coding.
Each student had a different reason for being there.
Fifth-grader Ella Morris wanted to create her own presence online with what she learns through Code Club.
“The reason that I like programming is that I like to make my own website,” Ella said.
But she wasn’t the only one excited to learn coding.
Josh Wilson, a fifth grader at LCA, has dreams of following in paternal footsteps through this coding efforts.
“The reason that I like Code Club is so that when I grow up I can be like my dad,” Josh said.
According to the official Code Club website, the global initiative aims to “create a generation of digital makers by giving every child the opportunity to learn to code for free. We want children to leave Code Club inspired to pursue other digital making activities, whether that’s in their spare time, in school or as a career. We want them to gain skills that are useful to them — not only learning to program, but also learning about computational thinking, problem solving, planning, designing and collaboration.”
But for the students, it’s all about learning how to master computers on their own time and in their own way.
For instance, Christopher Morton, a fifth-grader, just wants to try a little bit of everything.
“I like Code Club because I get to program a lot of stuff,” he said.
