The Ghana Society for Education Technology organised the second phase of the Kodetrain Programming class at the 131 Sunflower Hub.

The Kodetrain Virtual programming classes launched by GSET over a month ago has evolved from an online teaching experience  into an in person one on one event. Our kids finally gained the opportunity to meet their tutors face-to-face as we began a new journey. This saturday, GSET had its second meeting with young kids in our ecosystem and introduced a new and fun programming language to its curriculum .This time, we are offering not one but two programming choices for our young and energetic learners. Scratch, a programming language for kids led by our very Junior Technical Lead, Kwabena Osei Osusu. And last but not least HTML, spearheaded by our STEM lead, Miram Ocloo. 

Let’s take a peak at what our kids went through this week. We would be beginning with the latter. 

What is HTML

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, allows web users to create and structure sections, paragraphs, and links using elements, tags, and attributes. However, it’s worth noting that HTML is not considered a programming language as it can’t create dynamic functionality.

What can kids do with HTML?
Web development. Developers use HTML code to design how a browser displays web page elements, such as text, hyperlinks, and media files. 

Internet navigation. Users can easily navigate and insert links between related pages and websites as HTML is heavily used to embed hyperlinks. 

Web documentation. HTML makes it possible to organize and format documents, similarly to Microsoft

HTML is the foundation of all web pages. Without HTML, you wouldn’t be able to organize text or add images or videos to your web pages. HTML is the beginning of everything you need to know to create engaging web pages!

Our kids are going to learn all the common HTML tags used to structure HTML pages, the skeleton of all websites. Also, they will also be able to create HTML tables to present tabular data efficiently.

Is HTML Fun?

Kids learn HTML relatively quickly because it is an easy and fun programming language to work with. Due to its instant gratification-like nature, HTML enables us to view our web pages instantaneously – no web host needed!

What is scratch?

Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. Under the guidance of the programming team in our hub, kids can learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically.

How does Scratch work?

Scratch is unique in the way that it is not only a tool to teach kids how to program using block coding concepts, but is also a visual programming language in its own right.

By dragging sequences of blocks together on their app or website browser, children can easily impart instructions to their computer, tablet, or phone to make things happen – simple at first, but with ever-increasing complexity as they progress.

How old must one be to learn scratch 

Scratch is typically recommended for children over the age of 8. For kids ages 5-7, ScratchJr is an alternative option with an even simpler and more intuitive platform than regular Scratch.

Even though Scratch is great for kids 8-11, older kids and adults can use Scratch, too! Anyone with minimal computer science experience will find Scratch to be an accessible and friendly introduction to coding.

Why learn scratch

Scratch is a language designed for children that offers a fun, different, and educational way for your child to learn programming, problem solving, and collaboration skills. They can explore with a minimum amount of formal instruction and have fun in the process.