The STEAM curriculum adopted by most schools in Dubai and other regions of the Middle East compels students to study additional subjects like computers and delve into other aspects of technology. With the burden of English, Math, and Geography, it is normal to rebel while having to take on the additional responsibility of learning computers, especially coding!

However, we are aware that the 21st century that we live in is inevitably influenced by digitalization and we can’t imagine a single moment without being connected to devices and WiFi connections.

Learning programming skills at an early age not only prepares the younger generation to be job-ready but also helps in instilling vital skills necessary for overall development & growth. Critical thinking can help children navigate through life and make calculated decisions, while problem-solving skills help students be more steadfast in difficult situations and learn to overcome them with grace.

Often, parents & educators complain that children get frustrated and give up halfway through their coding journey. Well, we won’t argue on this one! It does take a lot of patience and conviction before you ace it, but it’s totally doable. Here are some ways to overcome the anxiety associated with learning to code.

#1 Choose a Good Mentor

If coding has to be made fun and interesting, enrolling your kids under an experienced mentor is key. The senior coder needs to think from the student’s point of view and design the curriculum in such a way, that it doesn’t get boring. In the GCC regions and across the Middle East, parents are more than eager to motivate kids to join at least one after-school coding program to make them technically literate. Taking assistance from apps like CodeMonkey is another great option. This platform is designed systematically to deliver the coding syllabus in a gamified manner to students, thereby making learning pleasurable. CodeMonkey is available for subscription in the UAE, so find out more about it by checking out this link: https://knowledge-hub.com/code-monkey/

#2 Have Patience

While it’s fabulous to be engrossed and concentrate while learning the basics of Java, C++, and Python it does not mean you will become a champ in one or two sessions. Everything takes time and having patience with yourself and trusting your mentor will help a great deal. There is no ‘one method’ or ‘rulebook’ that can teach you coding. You will need to resort to trial & error methods, which would be time-consuming.

#3 Avoid Frustrations

Not being able to fix a bug does create frustration, so learn to keep calm. This might be a rule you would have to live by. Even after one becomes a certified coder and successfully launches their career, bugs & other hindrances are inevitable. Computers have their own whims and fancies, so don’t get disheartened when the program doesn’t run as you expected it to. Rework and re-test, until the result is finally met with. Coding requires a certain way of thinking, and you’ll never get it right a 100%. There’s so much to learn, provided you have the courage to overcome the challenges.

#4 Continuous Practice

Practice makes a coder perfect. Coding helps us build websites, power robots, curate Apps, and even make self-driven cars thanks to the advent of Artificial Intelligence. It is not unheard of that when you learn a new language like French or Spanish, you need to keep practicing. If you go out of practice, you may forget it completely. Similarly, a programmer is expected to keep in touch and revise the syllabus every now & then. Also, since coding is a really dynamic topic and we know that technology keeps emerging around us, it is not enough to simply stick by what is taught in the classroom. Extra efforts must be made to subscribe to tech journals, research Blogs, read magazines, or even purchase the newly published computer books that help keep you abreast about the subject.

#5 Manage Deadlines

Effectively Students may be expected to present projects and furbish homework within tight deadlines. Be vigilant about time management, especially when you are using trial & error methods. Prepare a schedule, organize your resources, and plan in advance to allocate some time to fixing bugs & errors, thereby finishing the project on time.

To conclude, just remember these easy-to-apply tips and you will never go wrong when it’s actually time to express your thoughts on D-day. Keep your notes organized, offer positive suggestions, communicate the weaknesses of the student in a subtle manner, and we’re sure you’d play the part of a good mentor well.

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The UAE Ministry of Education, Knowledge Hub, a leading provider of learning solutions in the UAE and throughout the Middle East, and Renaissance, the creator of the myON digital reading platform, have signed an agreement to launch a project which aims to improve English reading standards for the 380,000 students in primary and secondary Emirati schools.

As part of the agreement and to support the UAE’s annual Month of Reading, a special reading competition has been announced, open to all public-school students. Running throughout the month of Ramadan, the competition challenges students to read as many digital books on myON as they can. Students who read the most will be recognized with certificates of achievement. Top-performing schools will also be recognized, as will teachers whose students have the highest rates of participation.

For the UAE Ministry of Education, this project drives the continued improvement of English literacy standards in the country. This is in line with the UAE Centennial 2071 and the Ministry’s strategic vision of an innovative education. The agreement, which covers all UAE public schools, is the largest myON governmental implementation in history and comes after two successful pilot schemes run in the country.

About Knowledge Hub

Established in 2001, The Knowledge Hub was born out of the undying need to provide high-quality education to students to cope with the ever-growing demands for advanced learning and development. Through the altruistic initiative and guidance of Sheikha Lamia Faisal Al Qassimi, invigorated by her aspiration to enhance the quality of education through IT solutions, The Knowledge Hub came into being in Dubai as a pioneer in the EdTech market. The constant support that Knowledge Hub has been providing to teachers and students since the beginning stirred the organization to take a giant leap of expanding from Dubai to other Emirates and eventually throughout the Middle East region.

To learn more, visit https://knowledge-hub.com/.

About Renaissance

As a global leader in assessment, reading, and maths solutions for primary and secondary schools, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. Renaissance solutions reach more than 40 percent of US schools, and are used in more than 100 countries worldwide. The Renaissance portfolio includes Star Assessments, for reliable, accurate insights into student learning; myON, to increase students’ access to high-quality reading materials; Accelerated Reader, to support independent reading practice; Freckle, for teacher-led differentiated instruction in maths; Lalilo, to develop critical foundational literacy skills; and Nearpod, for teacher-facilitated instructional delivery.

To learn more, visit https://intl.renaissance.com/

Technology has changed the way students learn. And with the current global situations it has been a growing challenge to teach students with the same effectiveness in remote learning. Carolina Kits, keeping this in mind introduced the idea of the 3D Flex Biology Program. The program operates on the idea that all learning requires a practical experience. Providing this practical experience for learning biology is where the program comes in.

What is the program kit for?

The program is designed for students to be able to learn biological sciences practically while being remotely located. This enables the best form of learning right inside the homes of the students. Giving them an edge in the concepts and ideas they learn through the program. The program also creates a great opportunity for the students to learn practically, as opposed to theoretical learning.

What is included in the program kit?

The kit includes a number of components required to study the group behaviour of social insects. The insects themselves are part of the kit and are shipped to the student’s location. Other tools and articles are included to aid the practical learning experience. The 1-year subscription of the Carolina Kits online resources is what helps the student drive their study of the insects. The resources along with the student guide serve as an instruction manual for the student to follow and learn practically from.

Features of the Carolina Kit 3D Flex Program

• The individual student kits come with a year-long worth study material that is used to guide the student’s learning experience, while recreating learning in the lab. Since all documentation and information stays digital, it is greatly beneficial to the students learning remotely.
• The box includes all the tools and information required to learn the biology concepts, which is why no additional tool or equipment is required apart from the packaged box shipped to the student.

Benefits of the Carolina Kit 3D Flex Program

The kit creates an authentic lab experience for students even in a time where they are remotely learning complex concepts. This allows for a rather wholesome learning journey for the student, rich with valuable knowledge. The program also enables the learner to have a consistent enriching experience as compared to their school learning. Flexibility is also introduced in the learning as students can hold a greater degree of control over how and when they learn the concepts. The kit also makes sure everyone has a similar learning experience even when they are separated by remote learning.

Why learn practically at all?

In a time where regular learning structures are already compromised one does tend to think that learning practically may not be essential. But this could not be further from the truth! We learn a great deal of things by doing them and taking that away from the learning experience is like taking the learning away. The remote learning practical kits enable students to learn at their highest efficiency without any compromise in quality of learning and knowledge. Learning practically also brings a great deal of fun into the learning experience, which is quite necessary when teaching young students.

Learning practically for students turns out to be a great catalyst in promoting critical thinking, problem solving and reasoning, all of which are highly valued soft skills the students would need as adults.

Over and above the learning of the student by practical means enables a greater degree of retention in the information, i.e., the student learns, understands and remembers better by learning anything practically. The learning of biology through home kits have taken quite a popularity in regions of Middle East, UAE, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi etc., where technology is being introduced to supplement the learning that happens remotely.

The Group Behaviour and Social Insects’ program by Carolina Kits acts as the perfect supplement for laboratory learning for students. By creating a unique experience, the program aims to close the gap created by remote learning by making learning fun, productive and truly valuable.

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When children step into a Toddler environment at age 1.5 years their minds are like blank slates, with only limited information picked-up from conversations at home with parents. Stepping into a pre-school introduces children to a whole new world of learning. They observe, communicate, and learn to behave well in a social setting.

Tiny tots often replicate the adult’s actions and are very observant. Therefore, in a kindergarten setting, the teacher must be a role-model and adopt a disciplined way of action to inculcate the same values in the classroom.

Children’s brains are like sponges, they absorb information that is thrown at them with ease. Science has proven that maximum brain development that is 90% happens by 6 years of age. Therefore, to make them well-rounded individuals in the future, children need to get an exposure to numerous activities.

Parents encourage their children to participate in music, art, physical fitness, and dance, even before they start to master their ABC’s. Computer literacy is another skill that a kindergarten child is rapidly being exposed to. The world is becoming increasingly dependent on technology and people are coming even closer, thanks to the use of the web.

The question is that, can you teach a 3-year-old child to connect with the fascinating world of technology and discover colors, numbers, vocabulary and shapes, from a tab?

Well, the answer is definitely an assertive. Parents are amazed at how quick their pre-schoolers learn to ‘click’ and ‘navigate’ on their path of self-discovery. Learning-by-doing themselves is a way of instilling confidence in youngsters and they get a sense of pride when they accomplish a task.

Technokids has a deep understanding of the learning capabilities of children and thereafter designed different training modules to teach them the basics in an interesting manner. To support the learning of numbers, colors, shapes, and letters, taught by the teacher in class, children are given the freedom to experiment and use their imagination to create meaningful projects on the TechnoKids app. Have a look at what each of the module focuses on.

Techno colors

Dive into the world of color with Techno Colors and transform your kid into a budding artist. Techno Color teaches kids the following:

• Color challenge: Using the drawing tool, children themselves draw patterns, sceneries and add their choice of color to it.
• Shades of color: Matching shades of color needs children to identify and pair the appropriate color shades together.
• Feeling color: Different colors are associated with emotions and when children choose a color it demonstrates what mood they are in.
• A colorful day: Children add color to the bright morning skyline.
• Colorful music: This is a unique activity where children listen to music and paint a picture on the melody of the sound.

Learning objective to kids by using Techno Color   

• Identifying different colors
• Lean about the various shades
• Use the mouse to click, drag, hold, and double click
• Learn to draw with tools like pencil, marker tool, crayon, and chalk
• Choose stickers, add sounds, and paste animations
• Add text to the picture
• Create artwork to express mood

Techno Numbers

Develop the knack of number recognition amongst your kids with Techno Numbers. Techno Numbers teaches kids the following:  

• Number challenge: Engaging number challenges that intrigue an interest in the child for learning math passionately.
• Numerous numbers: Counting, tracing, and painting numbers helps the child practice, while having fun.
• Big book of numbers: Avail the student number counting workbook along with the kit.
• Stylish numbers: Children sort, count, and draw numbers in an artistic way, from one to ten.

Learning objective to kids by using Techno Number

• Develops recognition of numbers from 1 to 10
• Counting skills enhance
• Children learn to locate number keys on keyboard
• Creativity increases with drawing tool
• Easily print the artwork to flaunt your child’s work

Techno Numbers

Children visit the computer lab and work on the Kid Pix tool by Techno Shapes to learn about the basic shapes and geometric patterns. Techno Shapes teaches kids the following:

• Connecting Dots: Children join the dots in a sequential manner to make shapes.
• Shape Design: Children experience a shape Art Show and display their creativity to replicate Geometric shapes.
• Shape Detective: Put up the child’s thinking caps on as they are on a mission to detect various shapes.
• Lovely Lines: Draw and paint lines with different curvatures to form artistic patterns.

Learning objective to kids by using Techno Shapes

• Identify basic shapes
• Select appropriate drawing and painting tool
• Create a dot to dot design
• Use patterns or stamp to draw geometric shapes

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