How GoGeek Kids Is Teaching Kids To Code During the Pandemic
The General Administration of Information Technology, represented by the Digital transformation Unit, offered GoGeek Kids, which is a training program designed to fill a niche of online coding classes for kids between the ages of 10-15. GoGeek Kids mainly focuses on electronic games that also teach programming logic such as sequencing and loops and Python, which is a high-level programming language that is easy for kids to learn because commands read similar to words instead of complicated numbers. Of note, all programs in the GoGeek Kids initiative were delivered by Ms. Fatima Al-Jarbou.
CIO, Dr. Mohammed Alsaqer, explained that the electronic games development program lasted for six hours and it had an interactive nature. Game programming, on the other hand, lasted for three days. Many topics were covered, most importantly introducing the concept of programming through "Scratch". "Scratch" was developed by MIT and is an online environment where kids can create games and animations using drag-and-drop programming events.
CIO Alsaqer: more than 50 projects were completed and published on https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/26266199/.
Teaching programming using Python lasted for four days, a total of eight interactive hours. Around forty-two kids, between 10 and 13 years old, benefitted from this course. It covered a lot of skills most importantly, the concepts of programming and algorithms. In addition, the classification of programming languages. Then, a number of projects were made interactively using Python Turtle. In addition to introducing how to deal with calculations, loops, and variables.
Its worth mentioning that a total of 375 applicants submitted interest with only 109 being accepted based off of merit. The applicants were not only from Saudi Arabia, but there were also applicants from Egypt and Germany. GoGeek Kids is an extension to the GoGeek Initiative, which won the United Nations WSIS 2020 Prize in Capacity Building.
