No matter what career your child chooses to pursue, familiarity with coding and computer software is going to make their job easier which is why I was thrilled to be able to review Code For Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1) from Code for Teens.
Even a stay-at-home mom who finds herself blogging on the side finds herself wishing she knew more about it (ask me how I know!) In this day and age, living in our culture of technology it is becoming more and more important for students to learn at least basic programming skills.
The only thing you’ll need to get your junior high or high school student started on their JavaScript programming journey is this awesome beginner’s programming guide, a laptop or desktop computer (or other device) that uses Google Chrome. After reading the introduction, your teen will be off and running, coding right from the start.
This guide cuts to the chase. It is not watered down. It has full color illustrations but is not filled with gimic-y games. It is easy to understand with a quirky touch of humor, which totally grabs the attention of my teen-aged boys. An important factor for me was that the parent does not need to have a full grasp of coding. My boys were able to pick up the book and run with it. Good thing, since I really don’t speak the language!
The introduction chapter sets the mood for everything to come. The author is passionate about computer programming and how it will benefit the students for life. He helps them adopt a positive “learnitude” – you know, a positive attitude for learning, by cluing them into the why before jumping into the how. The first chapters cover basic concepts, laying a foundation for later projects. In every chapter you’ll find quizzes and drills, review questions and simple do-it-yourself projects that reinforce the lessons you have learned.
My boys have both had exposure to coding over the past school year. My 10th grader worked through an online coding class available through Harvard University and still he enjoyed working on projects included in this book. It reinforced what he has already learned, reminded him of things he had forgotten and introduced him to new concepts as well.
What if you and your child have no coding experience whatsoever? That’s ok! The author has written in such a way you can begin at the beginning and be able to learn and grow as you work through the chapters, lessons and projects. This book really is one that can be used by anyone at any level.
Volume 1 really is a beginner’s guide to computer programming. If you have little or no background in programming, if you are not sure where to begin then this book is for you. If you are looking to build on what is introduced in Volume 1, Volume 2 is also available. It introduces you to HTML and CSS and also shows how they can use JavaScript along with these.
Code for Teens gives you a solid, self-paced program for teaching yourself (or your high school students) coding using JavaScript. Easy to use, straight-forward learning- our family recommends it!
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