EU Code Week starts on Saturday — and bizarrely lasts for 16 days. I guess EU Code Fortnight And Two More Days doesn’t have the same ring to it.
That quirk aside, Apple has been providing examples of how its own Swift training materials are helping students of all ages learn to code, starting from age 5…
One teacher at a primary school says that the benefits go well beyond computer skills.
These schools are part of a growing number of European institutions relying on the power and versatility of iPad, Mac, and Apple’s Everyone Can Code and App Development with Swift curricula to teach coding to a new generation of students.
With the youngest children, the goal is getting them to understand the core principle of coding: breaking down a task into a set of line-by-line instructions.
I’m not sure Apple’s chosen example of adult training is the best: The company cites a student who signed up for a Swift course in 2017 and now teaches it. But in that time, she has launched only one app and is working on a second, while the 41 students who completed the course have only produced 14 apps between them over two years. Still, there’s no doubting the benefit of introducing students to coding as early as possible.
Scott brought in bread, butter, and jam and asked her students to give her step-by-step instructions on how to construct the sandwich. The exercise introduced them to the individual commands required to execute a coding sequence.
Swift usage has more than doubled in iOS 13, while Swift Playgrounds for iPad has been updated with Dark Mode support, Learn to Code enhancements, and more.
