Code Ninjas<\/a>, located near Calloway Drive and Brimhall Road, teaches children ages 5 to 14 how to code by creating interactive digital experiences, including video games. Owner Mina Rama said early exposure to technology skills is increasingly important.<\/p>\n\u201cI think it\u2019s incredibly important for kids nowadays, especially, to become more literate when it comes to technology, just the way reading and math is one of our foundational subjects for life,\u201d Rama said.<\/p>\n
Rama said the program focuses heavily on logic, reasoning and breaking down complex problems into small steps. For younger children, the approach starts with fundamentals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor kiddos that are much younger, five to seven, we actually start them off with block based coding, where they get to do some stuff on the iPad and learn about block based while they also do unplugged activities, because they\u2019re much younger,\u201d Rama said. \u201cA lot of times at that age range, it\u2019s much more beneficial for them to learn from 2d 3d visuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
For kids eight and older, students are taught the actual create curriculum, they start with block based coding, an then move towards text based JavaScript. The program uses a belt-based system, and students who reach that level are placed as a \u201cblackbelt.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the teachers, also known as a \u201cSensei,\u201d is Alana Jackson, a current student at Ridgeview High School. Jackson said she has been learning how to code since she was 10 years old and enjoys watching students work through challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like when they like achieve something, and seeing them they get to achieve something, and when they like, struggle and they finally, like, get, get it,\u201d Jackson said.<\/p>\n
Rama said the rise of AI tools has also changed the kinds of questions students bring into the classroom, including relying on chatbots for schoolwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd especially tools like AI, we get a lot of kids that will say, well, chat, GPT will do my homework,\u201d Rama said. \u201cThe most important thing they can learn is criticizing those prompts that they receive. And this is what we want to teach them. Is, how do you use it safely? How do you really differentiate what\u2019s true and untrue, and how do you understand when you need to go deeper into something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rama said the goal is not simply teaching coding syntax, but building broader problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith AI, it\u2019s really important to know it\u2019s a tool, and if anything, it\u2019s made us become much more essential,\u201d Rama said. \u201cIt helps you. You know, we\u2019re not here developing the next, you know, pipeline of coders. We\u2019re here to develop a skill set. So it\u2019s not just a syntax, it\u2019s critical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents are welcome to stop by after 8 a.m. Monday-Friday to enroll their children in the program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As artificial intelligence becomes a bigger part of everyday life, an after-school program in Bakersfield is teaching children…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-289746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}