Hear From Our Founder: Creating a Best-in-Class Curriculum Part I
Here at Coding Lab, we often talk about our MIT-inspired and award-winning coding curriculum for children and teenagers Ages 5-18. But have you ever wondered what it takes to craft and create such a best-in-class curriculum that would challenge and engage kids at the right level? How do we make decisions about the curriculum and what are some frequently asked questions?
As a full scholarship recipient from the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a former Regional Director in a US multinational company, with experience in a technology startup in Silicon Valley, Mr Yong Ning Foo shares with us why he chose to enter the education industry and the process of creating the award-winning Coding Lab curriculum.
Hi Mr Yong Ning, can you share with us your inspiration for starting Coding Lab?
Yong Ning at our Coding Lab Parkway Parade campus, which boasts a stunning view of East Coast Park, as well as beanbags for students to lounge on.
Yong Ning: I founded Coding Lab out of a desire to prepare my two children and their peers for the technological future. Just like how English and Math are important, I firmly believe that technology is going to play a huge role in my kids’ lives and I wanted to equip our future leaders with the best skills to create meaningful changes and innovative solutions in the world. In a way, I also wanted to introduce my favourite subject to them through fun!
By the time I was satisfied with the curriculum I had come up with to teach my own kids to code, I already knew that I had found my purpose and was determined to do my part to teach the world to code.
It’s interesting that you wanted to teach your own children to code! How did it progress to become teaching thousands to code through Coding Lab?
Yong Ning: The journey all began when I was researching how I could teach my children to code to prepare them for the future. I was excited to utilise my strengths (in computers, coding and logical thinking) to develop an engaging and effective curriculum. With programmes like Scratch, kids can now learn to code at a young age, comparable to teaching them Science or the piano and I was excited to curate a magical curriculum that is age-appropriate and which would gift them essential computational thinking skills for life.
At the same time, I was coaching a few team members at work on automating their analytical work and I realised that the world would really be more efficient if everyone knew how to code. This was back in 2015, and after listening to a TED talk by Mitchel Resnick (one of the developers of Scratch) on the way to work, the spark was ignited.
Back then, my daughter Audrey was 2 years old and learning to walk and talk while my son Mitchell was just a newborn (his name was partially inspired by Mitchel Resnick – coincidentally it was one of the names we were considering – watching the TED Talk of him just helped us to decide and confirm on the name). By the time I was satisfied with the curriculum I had come up with to teach my own kids to code, I already knew that I had found my purpose and was determined to do my part to teach the world to code.
Can you share with us more about your process of creating the Coding Lab curriculum?
Yong Ning: The initial research I did was almost like writing a thesis! I also considered my own personal experiences and I wanted to create something that would excite others the same way. I remember when I got my first computer when I was 15, where I built my own websites and tinkered with my home router. I loved computers and programming so much that I went on to pursue a Masters in Computational Engineering at MIT.
Yong Ning (far left) with some of our passionate Coding Lab educators!
Of course, the Coding Lab curriculum wasn’t based solely on my own personal experiences. I gathered a global team of curriculum developers and technology advisors who are experts in the field to embark on this journey with me. Many of them work in companies such as Microsoft, Credit Suisse and LinkedIn. Tapping into everyone’s expertise, we designed the Coding Lab curriculum.
We made decisions based on scientific evidence such as incorporating the inquiry-based learning that I experienced at MIT for our curious young minds. We also wanted children to learn effectively while having fun, so this meant getting hands-on. All the way through to 18 years old, our curriculum emphasises on Mathematics, and weaves in other topics, such as Biology and Physics, or hands-on elements that cover hardware add-ons and robotics, such as Photon, mBot, and Micro:bit. The programming that they learn ensures real-world relevance so that our students will be future-ready and able to develop top-notch solutions for companies or their community.
It has been a while since the first iterations of the Coding Lab curriculum, and we have now grown to a progressive roadmap of coding classes for ages 5 to 18. Many of the considerations used in the process of creating it, still hold today as we continue to innovate.
"I believe that having a good teacher can make all the difference in engaging your child the right way, and set the tone for their journey in technology."
What challenges did you face with creating the Coding Lab curriculum?
Our Young Computer Scientists doing some deskercise - with grandpa joining in the fun!
Yong Ning: One challenge that comes to mind is the fact that even within a particular age group (Eg. Ages 10-12), we may come across huge differing abilities. How then, do we keep all students in a class of 8 engaged? We've therefore tailored our curriculum to accomodate learners of different abilities. We also train our tutors to apply differentiated teaching in tandem with our curriculum map. This ensures that the faster learners are challenged whilst at the same time allowing the core concepts to be taught and reinforced for the rest of the students.
How did you decide on teaching Scratch for Ages 7 to 9, MIT App Inventor for Ages 10 to 12, and Python for Ages 10 to 18?
Adam, Anthony and Joshua receiving their award certificates from Mark Friedman, one of the original developers of MIT App Inventor
Yong Ning: Aside from all the research, we also looked at competitions for those age groups and used this information to identify the coding languages that would be most suitable for that age group. We aimed to set them up for success in a conducive learning environment and to see our students thriving and emerging as winners was a great encouragement.
For example, we sent a team of our students - Aaron, Adam, Anthony and Joshua - to compete in the global MIT App Inventor Summit all the way to my alma mater in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They ended up winning the top 3 awards and did Singapore proud!
Sarah Go is another student who comes fondly to my mind. When she joined us in 2017, she was a complete beginner to coding. After 6 months, she took part in the National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) and obtained the Honourable Mention. This is not an easy feat even for seasoned coders – and especially since she had just started coding. Fueled by her passion for coding, she then paid it forward by becoming one of our volunteer tutors. She is now on a 4-year scholarship reading Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas. It is rewarding to see her grow in aptitude and attitude, and pursue a degree in Computer Engineering after her time with us at Coding Lab.
“It was Coding Lab that sparked my interest in coding. I took my first steps in Python, a programming language, and fell in love with coding. I faced a steep learning curve, but I enjoyed every minute of it!”
– Sarah Go, 20 years old
Thank you Mr Yong Ning Foo for taking the time to share with us about the MIT-inspired curriculum! Look out for Part II of this blog series, where Yong Ning's children, Audrey and Mitchell, share with us their experiences as students of Coding Lab.
We nurture future leaders in technology and we believe that everyone should learn to code. That includes your children. We invite you to experience our MIT-inspired, award-winning coding curriculum and the Coding Lab Way of teaching. View our classes here!
Coding Lab is honoured to have been recognised with numerous awards:
Parents’ World - 4-Time Best Coding Curriculum 2016/17-2019/20
Singapore’s Child Enrichment Awards 2018 - Best Coding Curriculum
Little Magazine - School of the Year (Computer Science) 2017
Young Parents’ Magazine - voted Best Coding Programme.
Our Coding Lab students have won medals at the MIT App Inventor Global Summit in USA, clinching numerous prizes, emerged as Best Coders at the Microsoft Minecraft Cup in Japan, and entered the school of their choice via the Direct School Admissions (DSA) exercise. We are proud to share that our students have achieved medals in the annual National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI), which is highly recognised for admissions to top universities.