The Digital Adventures Blog
For parents, educators and students to discuss tech education for kids, best practices for teaching coding & engineering design to kids & emerging technology trends
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Consistent Practice Develops Your Kid’s Tech Superpowers
We often hear the term practice makes perfect. The real question is, what does that really mean? At Digital Adventures, we’ve had the opportunity to work with thousands of young people on their journey to learn how to build with technology. While there is no doubt that the next generation truly enjoys all things technology, how do you develop the skills that will enable your child to truly be e...
Celebrating 50 Years of Teaching Kids to Code
During computer science education week, Google launched an interactive doodle to celebrate 50 years since the introduction of the 1st coding language for kids – Logo. As part of the interactive doodle, Google worked with a few internal teams along with an external partner, MIT who developed the very popular Scratch language. The Google doodle which uses a rabbit as a character seeks to emulate ...
Practice is a key element of learning to build with technology
This week, I had the opportunity to attend my kid’s annual holiday sign at their school. During the performance, the audience was treated to songs with the band, orchestra and chorus. It was amazing! Both of my school-aged children are playing a new instrument this year. So, I want to rewind back to the beginning of the school year when they first received their instruments. At that point, it w...
5 Reasons Why Parents Should (ALSO) Learn to Code
While much has been written about the necessity of teaching kids to code: Why every child should learn to code , More parents want children to learn to code, Why kids should learn to code and How and Why to Teach Your Kids to Code; we think it is also important that parents understand the basics of coding. This is not to suggest that parents should become developers-in-training and ultimately b...
Something important was MISSING at Parent-Teacher Conferences
This week, we had parent-teacher conferences at my children’s school. During parent-teacher conferences, we go through what is going well and what could be improved with my kid’s educational journey. Typically, at my kid’s school, there is a conference during the fall and spring. It’s always good to have 30-60 minutes to spend with my kid’s teachers. Thankfully, both of my kids are doing well ...
Hey Ivanka, Here’s The Blueprint for Making a Maker
Recently, the administration led by Ivanka Trump announced that they would annually commit $200 million to increasing access to high quality STEM education. The primary goal of this funding is to better prepare students for the high-paying jobs of tomorrow. The main gap that this funding is trying to solve for is the lack of access to computer science coursework within schools along with the di...
Beware the naysayers.....
Earlier this week, an article came out in the Globe and Mail entitled, “Coding for kids: another silly fad”. The author argues that while coding is the basis for giving instructions for a computer that most of us do not have to learn it any more than you have to understand an engine to drive a car or indoor plumbing to use a toilet. The writer then goes on to argue that the technology industry...
Inspired by Kids, Powered by Parents
“I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” – Whitney Houston At Digital Adventures, we are fortunate to be in a position to prepare the next generation to have a big impact using technology as their platform. In the process, they will help make the world a better place for all of us. As we continue to build the business, I thought it would be good to re...
Learning to code is no accident
Since founding Digital Adventures and working with hundreds of kids on thousands of projects, we’ve discovered a fundamental truth; kids just want to play and build cool stuff they can show off to their friends and family. Our educational approach is based on accidental (or incidental) learning, and is designed to facilitate a dual purpose – enabling kids to have fun while they are learning. Ac...
10 reasons why your kid should learn to code - Part 3
In the first part of our series, we highlighted how technological disruption, technology fluency and how coding is the new language of business are key reasons why your kid should learn to code. In the second part, we outline how coding impacts the development of creative problem solving capabilities, influences their ability to communicate their ideas, teaches how to flex kid's entrepreneurial...
10 reasons why your kid should learn to code - Part 2
In the first part of our series, we highlighted how technological disruption, technology fluency and how coding is the new language of business are key reasons why your kid should learn to code. In the second part, we outline how coding impacts the development of creative problem solving capabilities, influences their ability to communicate their ideas, teaches how to flex kid's entrepreneurial...
10 reasons why your kid should learn to code - Part 1
Often when you are in neck deep in an industry, you might assume that everyone has the same framework or point of reference when it comes to the importance of kids learning to code. However, instead of assuming, we thought it would be important to clearly state the 10 reasons why we think your kid should learn to code. This will be a 3 part series. Without further ado, here are the 1st 3 reason...
5 Brain Boosting Benefits of Learning to Code
At a basic level, programming is writing a set of instructions for a computer to execute to achieve a desired output. Since computer coding is a relatively new discipline, there hasn’t yet been a ton of research on the associated brain benefits of learning this subject. However, a recent study helps shed some light on how the brain benefits from learning to program. In this study, 17 participan...
Impostors, No More!
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." - Henry Ford According to a review of 308 studies involving over 1.1 million girls and boys from 30 countries, girls have been outperforming boys in all subjects (reading, language, math and science) for nearly a century. Despite their performance, there is a nearly universal belief that boys are better at math &...
Coders are the new Superheroes!
This past Friday, April 28th, was National Superhero Day. According to the dictionary, a superhero is defined as, “a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also, an exceptionally skillful or successful person.” When I was a kid, my favorite superhero was Superman. He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a singl...