Coding For All

Why should we teach coding?

Just like how we teach other languages like Spanish, French, Mandarin, etc. we should also be teaching coding to our middle and high school students.

Coding requires a new style of thinking: instead of solving a problem using some formula or process you memorized in a class three years ago, you confront the problem by connecting known concepts with the new problem. Is this frustrating? Absolutely. But the more we challenge our students early on, the easier their lives will be when they look for a job or even a graduate/medical/law school.

For middle school students

We recommend starting with Scratch, a "drag and drop" programming language created by MIT. This programming style is widely used in middle (and even elementary) courses to introduce the idea of programming to students. You can quickly go from not knowing what a program is to creating your own game!

For high school students

We recommend starting with Python, a "high-level" programming language with a wide variety of applications. Python is one of the most popular and easy to use programming languages, and having even a beginner's level experience is very beneficial for students applying to colleges or job positions out of high school.

To view the coding coursework for the RET program, click here!