Students
January 12, 2021

Self-Directed Learning: How Kids Learn to Code in Our Program

Tired of struggling with your child about how much time they’re spending online, gaming? Why not instead give them the chance to build their own games and give them skills to shape their future.

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Tired of struggling with your child about how much time they’re spending online, gaming? Why not instead give them the chance to build their own games and give them skills to shape their future.

How Kids Learn to Code with Hatch Studio

With technology integrated into our daily lives, most kids today can navigate themselves in the virtual world and have likely had some experience with online learning. Hatch Coding gives kids the chance to build their own technology rather than to just be a consumer of it.

Hatch Coding makes learning to read and write code fun and easy through our custom-built, virtual education portal with over 600 projects to choose from. We teach real-world coding in JavaScript and Python and kids can choose their degree of learning support - from working on their own, private lessons, or team workshops.

We prepare students for real-world programming and don't simplify coding for kids - our step-by-step approach uses the same methods that have trained 95% of software developers in the workforce today. Here’s an in-depth look at our coding program.

Hatch Coding Student coding at her computer

Kids Build A Portfolio of Work: Gain Certification

We look at student’s work holistically, like a portfolio, where they can see the progression of their skills with our user-friendly student interface (below). We have four Hatch Coding Certificates that students work towards; Writer, Author, Intern and Jr. Developer.

Hatch Coding Student Dashboard

Code Writer: Students begin their programming journey by learning the basics of code. Once completed students can create a challenge to publish to the Hatch Coding virtual portal.

Code Author: Students upskill to turn their ideas into code, creating computer functions using their programming skills and imagination. Once completed students can publish their own project onto the Hatch Coding virtual portal for other students to try.

Code Intern: Prepares students for a career in coding - this certificate will place students on par with a programming intern, and students will have mastered most coding concepts and will have learned both HTML and CSS. Once completed students can create multiple versions of existing projects or create new projects that they can publish to the Hatch Coding virtual portal.

Junior Developer: Completion of the final Hatch Coding certificate will set students up for real-world coding. Students will have the skills to land their first programming job! Students will have their own professional portfolio on GIT HUB and know how to code in an additional coding language - like C++ - and will have mastered all coding concepts, as well as have learned how to test their code.

To achieve each Code Certification students must complete 50 levels per certification that assess skills based on five categories that we call the Computer Science Superpowers.

Hatch Coding Computer Science Skills Chart

Explore the Programming Skills we teach in more detail.

Coding and Instruction Levels

Hatch Coding has 25 Learning Levels and students progress at their own pace with four instructional levels:

Type-What-You-See (TWYS) is the easiest level that students learn at. It’s similar to tracing activities when learning letters, numbers and copying notes. It allows students to observe patterns and draw conclusions when they work through the project challenges. Our project challenges allow students to extend their learning through practicing the components learned in each project.

For example, in our beginner project, Hold A Ball, students TWYS to colour the ball, black and one of the challenges asks students to change the colour of their ball through researching the RGB colour codes provided in the Hatch Coding’s reference manual colour wheel.

Pseudocode is the next level of coding and requires an understanding of computational logic and computational thinking. It is written as blocks of code (like a paragraph in an essay) and students need to understand the basic syntax and vocabulary within JavaScript to both create and plan for their project. This level of coding is used in the real-world of the programming industry.

English Description is the hardest level of coding and writing and shows a deep understanding of computer programming. For students to reach this level of coding, they must have an understanding of numerous programming skills and have learned many of the competencies within JavaScript.

Project Description is a single prompt for a project that has one component. This level of coding is reached when students have mastered all coding concepts and can review their own code. For example, they can create their own game without any prompts all on their own.

To see how students are presented with a project and to give one a try, Check out our beginner project: Hold A Ball.

From Gamers to Game Creators

Our students continue to amaze us with the creativity and complexity that they implement into their code projects. Hatch Coding student, Nyles shares with us that he hopes to be a gaming YouTuber when he’s older and claims: “Hatch Coding has helped me to prepare for this because games involve coding and now I can make them myself.” Check out his favourite game: Little Dude!

Why not give your child a chance to create their own games while giving them the skills to help achieve their dreams for the future?

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