You’re probably not smarter than a fifth grader

by Planit Canada President Peter Mate

I’m a very lucky man to be married to an amazing woman. Over the past year or so, my wife has organized a free after school kids coding activity for 8-12 year olds. Using the Code Club curriculums, rounding up some smarty pants coder volunteer instructors, nailing down a venue and, of course, hitting Planit Canada up for the laptops.

To date, she has successfully run a trial day and an eight-week program, with another program in the works. She’s even looking into a program specifically for girls as we, at Planit Canada, feel very strongly about encouraging women to pursue technology, and teaching this important value to our young kids.

You can’t imagine how amazing it is to see kids learning at the speed of light and having fun. I was worried that the instructor was moving too fast, but after looking over some kids shoulders, I realized that I’m the only slow one. It’s our responsibility as adults to empower the next generations with what we know, and figure out what sparks their interest.

Coding is not for everyone, but it should be tried by every kid. I’m happy to be part of making this introduction to coding a fun one. We should all be on a mission to make sure every area of our next generation’s brains have been explored and given the opportunity to find the thing that they’re so passionate about: they will change the world through it.

More information about the Kids Code program here.