“Everybody should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.” – Steve Jobs
Early education presents interesting opportunities that can improve the quality of life of citizens, instil confidence and ability in young minds, drive the creation of employment opportunities in job markets, and ultimately – sustain the pace of growth and development of human civilization. Since time immemorial, human beings have worked to educate the next generation through systems of formal education, informal training and instruction, learning in trades and crafts, internships, training programs, and oral learning systems.
In contemporary times, the mission has gained urgency owing to a variety of emerging imperatives; in response, educators and policy makers have expanded the mandate to promote digital literacy in the minds of young citizens. The idea of kids learning to code has attracted attention globally, captured the imaginations of governments and citizens, and triggered structured campaigns that encourage young citizens to participate in the development of modern computer code. In this context, we may consider the use of flowcharts as functional platforms that can promote said mission in a variety of evolving contexts.
Logic-based coding and familiarity with computer systems/frameworks – when cultivated as part of formal education systems – impart problem solving skills to the minds of young citizens. This forms a key incentive that reinforces the idea of coding as a “powerful and liberating force in people’s lives.” In line with this, educators may utilize flowcharts to develop coding curricula that assists the mission of kids learning to code. Such illustrations could help young citizens to assemble the building blocks of modern computer code, appreciate the mechanics that animate coding outcomes, learn the basic skills associated with various coding languages, and develop proficiency in coding environments that operate in modern workspaces. In essence, the flowchart can power a structured format of modern learning that promotes logical thinking, enables young citizens to appreciate a variety of outcomes, and serves as a mass enabler in the minds of kids learning to code.
Policy stances and postures being endorsed by governments are encouraging “all pupils to understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science” as part of efforts to meet the future requirements of business and industry. Such stances and postures find reinforcement in the fact that developing transversal skills – “such as analytical thinking, problem solving, team working, and creativity” – can promote the employment potential of youth, and hence, must commence with the idea of kids learning to code. In this context, flowcharts can perform a central role in allowing young citizens to appreciate the centrality of errors – and their subsequent remediation – in modern coding practices and environments. Instructors could deploy flowcharts to encourage young minds to analyze the composition/texture of coding errors, develop an understanding of the factors that trigger errors in code, assess the skewed effects errors may cast on outcomes, and the importance of correcting errors prior to operationalizing computer code.
Simple coding actions can serve as starting points for young citizens and kids learning to code. Flowcharts can impart instruction in this context by displaying a random alphabet in the initial stage of the illustration; the subsequent stages could instruct young students to embark on a variety of actions via computer hardware such as keyboard functions and pointing devices. Such an exercise can also instruct children in the use of numbers to steer the direction and velocity of a coding session. This instance of enabling kids learning to code allows us to appreciate the use of flowcharts in graded learning sessions that seek to educate the minds of young citizens. Flowcharts continue to perform a pivotal role in subsequent sessions by enabling young learners to expand their horizons, consider the use of experimentation in learning voyages, and ignite native curiosity in terms of the immediate factors that populate instruction-based learning processes and systems.
Fluent, color-drenched stages – when devised inside flowcharts – may encourage children to participate in, and excel at, coding sessions of varied intensity. This stance encourages designers of flowcharts to explore the potential of applying colors to illustrations in a bid to capture and retain the attention of children and young learners. The sequences of activity coded into the graded illustrations may portray popular activities (such as learning to dance) within a target age group. Pursuant to this stance, the content of flowcharts may instruct children to utter sets of words for a given time period (3 seconds, for instance); the subsequent stages require learners to locomote inside a designated area, change direction of movement, hold a particular physical stance, move in unison with dance partners, and other such actions. The primary training thus imparted encourages the innate abilities of kids learning to code, allows them to appreciate the importance of sequence and actions, trains their minds to undertake patterns of activity, and primes them to boost their reflexes in contemporary learning environments.
Children can undertake sets of design/creative activity as part of efforts to promote the mission of kids learning to code. Flowcharts – and their structured layouts – can enable this mission by allowing young learners to explore different approaches to basic coding. An instructor can aid such efforts by guiding children to assess their thoughts, and etch different sequences of action toward the achievement of a declared objective. The different stages of flowchart empower children to de-construct their thoughts into a variety/sub-sets of ideas that translate into individual expressions of action inside said illustrations. Adult guidance can also assist the mission by guiding such learning initiatives in terms of positive outcomes and undesired results. This instance of creative enterprise can encourage kids learning to code to gain a solid foundation in the fundamentals of computer coding, thereby helping create an inclination to pursue coding as a profession.
Symbols and motifs native to the modern flowchart can impart meaning and context to projects that hinge on kids learning to code in different contexts. The logic inherent in a variety of arrows, loops, broken lines, connectors, stages, sub-stages, convergences, and others, can serve as effective learning tools for young citizens. Teachers and educators could deploy such knowledge to program specific levels of awareness in children, thereby imparting momentum to the mission of kids learning to code. Such awareness can encourage children to think in disciplined formats, undertake tasks of solving basic problems, explore the limits of flowcharts to visually depict a process or system, and (subsequently) develop a mindset that can effectively combat chaos in real world situations. Additionally, kids learning to code may utilize the agency of illustrations to develop their abilities at creative thinking and navigate the contours of an imperfect world, thereby gaining a firm acquaintance with the primary structures of exploration and investigation.
Teachers guiding kids learning to code can use the explorations encased above to attain a variety of positive learning outcomes. Deploying the agency of flowcharts can empower instructors to fashion various types of learning strategy, empower younger generations to explore their environment, promote the fine art of exploring alternative methods of development, create intelligent interventions inside conventional teaching techniques, and develop a disciplined approach to modern learning and education. Interestingly, flowcharts also emerge as tools that can power intermediate levels of instruction for advanced students of computer coding practices. In doing so, these illustrations help blaze a new trail in the progress of civilization, attuned to the contemporary age.
