How time flies! We’ve already reached December, the month filled with festivities and new year preparations. Stay tuned for the exciting family-friendly techtivities we’ve prepared for you to make your December even more meaningful! 

Let’s start off with December’s #TechFact, which answers the question: What are the applications of coding/programming?

Find out more about its many broad benefits in the infographic below! 😉

Image for #TechFact (December Techtivities)
Image for #TechFact (December Techtivities)
Source: Our very own Coding Lab Educators!

From Robotics, Artificial Intelligence to Web/App Development, there’s no doubt that coding/programming has enabled us to achieve many advancements in technology!

Now that we’re all warmed up, keep scrolling to discover techtivities that you and your family can indulge in this month! ✨


Wild About Twilight 2021: A Pangolin’s Tale 

In this Walking Trail by Mandai Night Safari, your little techie can reinforce what they’ve learnt about Augmented Reality (AR) into real life! Together with Berani (which translates to ‘brave’ in Malay), a Sunda pangolin, you can discover hidden AR animals and learn how you can play a part in fighting against their extinction! 

Visitors need to download the Animal Quest app and complete the challenges in order to find where the AR animals are located. It certainly is an exciting digital experience for the whole family! 

Wild About Twilight Night Safari Banner

Details:
Includes: A fun Virtual Reality (VR) journey through the world’s first nocturnal wildlife park
When: 28 October – 31 December 2021
Where: Mandai Night Safari
Price: $32.40 for children, $47.70 for adults, $22 for senior citizens
Learn more here.


Nature Walks with Young Nautilus

Every young techie deserves a good day out in nature every once in a while. They can even go a step further and become mini Marine Scientists for a day! 

As Marine Scientists, they get to explore Singapore’s nature biodiversity, discover the mysteries of the squid in a dissection class and keep our coastal areas clean with a beach cleanup! We are sure that with awesome adventures like these, your aspiring little coder will become even more familiar with STEM and grow into eco-conscious techies.

Image of Nature Walk with Young Nautilus

Details:
Includes: A one-of-a-kind experience of being a young Marine Scientist for a day!
When: Selected dates from 5 November – 26 December 2021
Where: Multiple locations
Who: 6 years old and above
Price: $172 for “1 Child + 1 Adult” Promo / $89 for adults / $87 for children
Learn more here.


Brickosaurs World at Singapore Zoo and River Wonders

Apart from meeting the newly born zebra foal and giant panda, visitors have another reason to visit the Singapore Zoo and Mandai River: there are more than 60 life-sized dinosaurs (made out of roughly 1.5 million bricks!) 

Brickosaurs World is sure to catch your little one’s attention as they discover all about these magnificent creatures. They’ll learn more about animals at the brink of extinction, and the importance of conserving the wildlife and biodiversity of today! There are also 8 exciting workshops that your little techie can participate in, like using their crafty hands to dig up T-Rex bones and also put their thinking caps on as they find their way out of an a-maze-ing race! 

Brickosaurs World Banner

Details:
Includes: Showcase of more than 60 life-sized dinosaurs
When: 13 November 2021 – 3 May 2022
Where: Singapore Zoo and River Wonders
Price: Free with admission into Singapore Zoo and River Wonders
Learn more here.


Coding Bytes: Space Blast

The latest addition to our Coding Bytes series is Space Blast, our first-ever App Inventor tutorial! In this step-by-step tutorial, Tutor Luke teaches us how to program a fun game in space! In the game, you’ll have to navigate a fast rocket through space to reach Mars. 🚀 As the rocket has finite fuel and the distance is far, players have to collect power-ups to top-up fuel and avoid asteroids that decrease the rocket’s health! 🔋

Added your own twist to the program? We’d love to see it! Tag us @codinglabasia on Facebook or Instagram and stand a chance to be featured! 😉 Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel too to get notified on our latest videos. 

Details:
Includes: Engaging, fun and quick tutorials on Scratch and App Inventor programming
Watch the series here.


End the year well with our Year-End Coding Camps

Celebrate the end of another fruitful year with us in our Year-End Coding Camps! 🥳 If your little one is between the ages of 4 to 18, we’ve got exciting workshops specially for them to get the best start in coding! You can sign up and join in the fun here.

We assure you that your child will be in safe hands with us – safe distancing measures will be put in place at all times and you can even opt for Online classes anytime. If you have any queries, feel free to drop us an email, call us or WhatsApp us to get in touch! 

Year-End Coding Camp Banner

Details:
Date: 20 November – 31 December 2021
Location: Online, Parkway Parade, Bukit Timah (KAP Mall)
Price: $401.52
For more information, click here.


Image for #TechNews (December Techtivities)

This month’s tech news is about the use of robots in Singapore – specifically 5 of them! So the next time you go out to explore Singapore, keep a lookout for these 5 robots:
1. Safe distancing ambassador O-R3 at Bedok and Pandan Reservoir 
2. Coronavirus-zapping Sunburst UV bot at Northpoint City 
3. PAL, Decathlon Singapore’s inventory whiz
4. Cleaning robots Yi-Wei and Ella at Jewel and National Gallery Singapore / Alexandra Hospital
5. Rapid Automated Volume Enhancer (RAVE)’s speedy coronavirus testing

If you haven’t seen our previous techtivity recommendations, check out our November #TechtivitiesOfTheMonth, which includes more cool tech-related activities you can do with friends and family!

(Written by Zulaikha)


Best-in-class Curriculum for Coding

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Total Experience, X Analytics, Arm Technology… Are you in the know of these emerging technologies? Believe us; technology is fast-advancing and these top trends are bound to impact our lives, careers, and more. In fact, you might’ve already encountered some of them without knowing it. 

We’ve asked our Coding Lab Team to share their tech expertise on the hottest technology and here’s what you need to keep an eye out for in the Artificial Intelligence era. Be in the know so you can stay ahead of the game!

Students in Singapore attending one of the Minecraft Cup sessions via videoconferencing
Yes, Minecraft is a Virtual World too! Here are our Best Coder winners creating their impressive Virtual World in the Microsoft National Minecraft Cup 2019 in Japan.


Trend 1: Virtual Worlds

What games do your children play? Well, apart from letting your child have fun, it turns out that it’s also getting them acquainted with tech that’s brimming with potential – Virtual Worlds! 

What is it?

Virtual Worlds are computer-simulated environments with sensory and spatial characteristics, where users may utilise avatars to explore the environment. You’ve definitely heard of games like Second Life, The Sims, Habbo and World of Warcraft. These virtual worlds allow users to design, explore and interact with others.

Why should we look out for it?

While this technology tends to be widely used in gaming, technology has heralded diverse advancements, including Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, further extending its utility. (Virtual Reality immerses the user in a simulated environment, whereas Augmented Reality is an overlay of technology in the real world.) As discovered in recent years, and with the COVID-19 pandemic, Virtual Worlds now hold significant value in the education, medical and even the commercial spheres!

  • Education: It provides an interactive space for students to attempt tasks without financial and geographical constraints for greater student participation. This has proven to be especially useful during the pandemic!
  • Medical: It offers a mental and physical outlet for people to try out activities through their avatar. From confronting phobias to distracting patients during painful procedures, the list is only growing.
  • Commercial: It acts as a platform for collaboration for businesses, reducing costs from office rentals and electricity and allowing employees to interact easily with one another despite working from home.

Gif of our educator Lynn and her Young Computer Scientist student having fun with the Augmented Reality game they coded
Our 7 to 9-year-old Young Computer Scientists experiment with and code their own Augmented Reality games on Scratch!

That’s not all. “There’s also Tactile and Haptic Virtual Reality, which uses several technologies including sensors, advanced optics and more, which has the capability of overlaying augmented digital content onto your real-time space,” says our proficient educator, Keith, who majors in Data Science and Analytics at the National University of Singapore. “It adds the sensory element of touch, giving us a deeper understanding of the things which cannot be fully experienced by sight or hearing.”

Note: When we first wrote this, Facebook was not known as Meta yet. The Metaverse is yet another example of a virtual world – and indeed, with more advancements in technology, Virtual Worlds are in our near future.

The more structured the data, the easier it’ll be to collect, process and analyse it. (Photo Credit: Unsplash)


Trend 2: X Analytics

When you picture data, you think of lots of it and Big Data – all of which can be analysed to identify trends for decisions and businesses. What about the small and varied data? That’s where X Analytics comes in to make sense of it and answer complex questions.

What is it?

X Analytics is a new method to comb through structured and unstructured data – any data, regardless of the data’s location or format. A term coined by Gartner, the  “X” represents a range of content, such as video analytics and audio analytics, highlighting its ability to analyse all different forms of data. 

Screenshot of S111 Python 2 students smiling
Our Python 2 students love to learn about data processing and analytics – it’s fun but enriching too!

Why should we look out for it?

While Big Data and Analytics have been trends for the past decade, X Analytics has the ability to analyse even more data sources, such as audio, social media reactions, human emotions, and generate deeper insights more efficiently. This enables us to tackle more complex issues, from predicting natural disasters to even things like how to prepare for the next pandemic and identifying unfamiliar hacker patterns!

Our techie educator, Yue Wei (in his final year of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management at the National University of Singapore), explains the significance of this advent: “Data analytics methodologies are constantly evolving. Having the skills to process, analyse and manipulate data is highly valued today, especially with how X Analytics came to be and rose to the fore so quickly.”

Did you know that Microsoft has been using the x86 chip architecture for more than 30 years while Apple for 15 years already? (Photo Credit: Unsplash)


Trend 3: ARM Architecture

Smaller but more powerful. We bet you’ve read the news about Apple’s innovation – the M1 Chip. Or even about Microsoft’s SQ1 Processor. But do you know the technology behind them?

What is it?

ARM stands for Advanced RISC (reduced instruction set computer) Machines for computer processors. It’s the next-generation chip architecture and likely to spur the evolution of Cloud Computing.

Why should we look out for it?

ARM is out to revolutionise data centres and the compute ecosystem, with predictions that most data centres will use ARM by 2030. It has been touted as the next disruptor to Intel (which has traditionally dominated the semiconductor market by relying on its x86 chip architecture). For us, the transition to ARM means lower costs, reduced power requirements and a common platform for applications to run on smartphones, tablets and PCs.

“I studied the intricacies of the ARM processor and noticed how versatile it can be,” says Hovan, our Computer Engineering educator. “Coupled with a smaller set of instructions, easier programming for developers, energy efficiency and low costs, it’s no surprise the ARM processor is increasingly gaining traction these days.”

As we speak, big tech companies, including Apple, are shifting their Operating System from x86 processors to ARM-based central processing units. For cloud services, the largest cloud computing firm, Amazon Web Services, is already migrating to ARM. It seems that encounters with ARM-based technology will be happening more frequently.

Have you ever felt loyalty towards a brand? That may have partly been the result of the brand’s TX design. (Photo Credit: Unsplash)


Trend 4: Total Experience Design

You might not have heard of Total Experience (TX), but we’re pretty sure that you’ve come across it. When you browse through Shopee or Lazada or any online shopping platform and place an order, your experience doesn’t just stop there – you’ll receive regular updates about your order’s status, receive targeted recommendations in your search bar, and more! That’s where you’ve experienced TX.

What is it?

TX is a strategy that encompasses multiexperience (MX), customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and user experience (UX), which all work together to transform businesses for employees and customers.

Why should we look out for it?

Although this technology is not exactly tangible, it has gained traction in recent months for its potential to improve experiences across multiple disciplines efficiently and cut costs. 

We consulted our educator Evan, who majored in Business Information Systems. “The pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital operations for many businesses,” he said. “Companies are now placing more emphasis on TX to expand their markets and potentially attract more customers by providing a better user experience.”

Indeed, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of lockdowns and remote work has caused both internal and consumer-facing operations in tech bigwigs like Amazon to permanently adopt more virtual, distributed and remote structures. However, this shift in operations prevails a pressure on companies to seamlessly satisfy both customer and employee needs and expectations. In this new environment, TX has been seen as the solution to amp up user, employee and customer experience.

Childhood cancers are often difficult to spot in children due to them having similar symptoms to common ailments. (Photo Credit: Unsplash)


Trend 5: Long-Read Sequencing

Long-read sequencing (LRS) is a next-generation DNA sequencing technology. It’s highly relevant to our health and the leading player in the genomic revolution.

What is it?

LRS is the process of reading part or all of an organism’s DNA to improve the diagnosis and care for common and rare diseases.

Why should we look out for it?

LRS offers higher accuracy and greater detection of DNA variants than Short-Read Sequencing (SRS) systems. LRS is currently more expensive than SRS, but it is predicted that LRS will become more affordable by 2025. This means great things for everyone! No one wants their loved ones to be afflicted with cancers and diseases. With LRS, we can now detect genetic cancers and rare hereditary diseases earlier and easier, presenting more options for treatment.


We hope that you’ve found our quick brief on these top 5 tech trends helpful to your understanding of our future in the Artificial Intelligence Era and beyond.

We want the best for your child as much as you do. Prepare your child for the future of tech and take the first step to sign them up for coding classes with us here!

Want tips on how to prep your little one for technology and learning? Read Next: Navigating the New Blended Learning Landscape

(Written by Amanda Soh and Edited by Cheryl Tang)


Best-in-class Curriculum for Coding

We are honoured to be the winner of multiple awards.
Thank You for your support.

Hop on board the Coding Lab train! Click here to get our monthly newsletters straight to your inbox.

Ages 5-6 | Ages 7-9 | Ages 10-12 | Ages 13-18

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Email us at learntocode@codinglab.com.sg
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Here at Coding Lab, we have welcomed a myriad of students from all walks of life – and today, we would like to introduce you to one of our bright students who loves water polo and gaming: Chen-Yi! 

Image of Chen-Yi playing water polo

The Secondary 1 student is studying in his dream school Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) after entering through Direct School Admission (DSA) with Water Polo. He has been acing InfoComm, a compulsory academic subject in HCI, and his friends even frequently seek him out for advice!

Chen-Yi’s passion for coding has also caught the eyes of his Coding Lab tutors who acknowledge his budding potential. 👀 Absolutely incredible! Keep on reading to learn more about this ambitious individual!

Hi Chen-Yi! Tell us how you got started with coding. What do you like most about it?

I started self-learning how to code when I was in Primary 3 because I felt that it would be interesting to write my own programs and watch them work. I began with the basic programming platform Scratch, but while learning Scratch, I discovered Python, which to me seemed much more interesting than Scratch. Thus after finishing a Scratch course, I started to learn Python on my own using a book my father had bought for me. 

I like programming because I get to make anything I want. I could remix a simple game like Flappy Bird, or test my programming knowledge by taking on a more ambitious project. Programming is also able to help me in my daily life – for example, I got to make a program that prime factorizes a number, and this has helped me speed up my productivity while doing homework!

“Programming is also able to help me in my daily life – for example, I got to make a program that prime factorizes a number, and this has helped me speed up my productivity while doing homework!”

Your tutor Evan informed us that you’ve been experimenting a lot with Django this term! You have even created a few side projects on your own, which is super impressive! What has made you so interested in Django?

Image of Chen-Yi casual

I think that making a dynamic webpage is more fun than just a simple HTML static webpage. Django has also helped me to understand the workings behind some big sites. I made my project so that I could experiment with login pages and chatrooms. 

“Chen-Yi is an independent learner that has displayed commitment in learning the concepts. He has demonstrated that he understands the concepts taught in class well to apply and customise them into his web application. Despite being new to Django and Web Development, he is able to understand most of the concepts covered and takes the initiative to find out the possible projects we can explore by researching it himself during his personal time.”
– Tutor Evan

What difficulties did you face while learning to code?

To be honest I didn’t really know what I was doing in the first few months of learning how to program, and I only really picked it up after a year. At the time, I did not have a laptop or computer to work on, hence I resorted to writing code on trinket.io

Surprisingly, I was still able to write programs even though I had to constantly switch between the tutorial app and the browser. These first steps, though slightly inconvenient, have made me even more resilient and determined to continue learning how to program. You could even say that those first few months were the “appetizer” to my love for programming now!

What do you like about coding classes at Coding Lab?

I came for classes at Coding Lab as being in a class allows me to learn more in-depth, under the guidance of professional teachers. In a class, I can ask the teachers questions, rather than Googling the questions on the internet, as sometimes you don’t get a straight-cut answer from Google.

As Coding Lab is far from my house, I opted for online lessons so that I am able to learn without difficulties! I like coding classes at Coding Lab as I am able to ask the teachers for help whenever I need it, and the answers I receive help me a lot.

The things that are taught at Coding Lab are also interesting and useful in real life, for example creating websites with Django as the backend server to process the database and retrieve the designs of the websites that are created using HTML.

Tell us more about ‘ZeroNET’, the app you made during your hackathon. What inspired you to make it, and what were the challenges you faced?

ZeroNET has a simple login and sign up system, and you can join a chatroom using a room code. I made it because I thought that login and sign up systems would be interesting to play with, and it would be cool to see how chatrooms function. After attending classes, I was able to implement more things into my website!

As an independent learner, I’ve also been experimenting with Django and have even created side projects on my own after reading up on Google and watching YouTube tutorials.

One of Chen-Yi’s amazing side projects, titled Teleporter. The program is about a robot-boy who can shoot bullets which, on exploding, create “glowing” particles. There are also portals that he can create and teleport with when the right-click is utilised, hence the naming of “Teleporter”.

Teleporter is one of my projects that enabled me to practice adding more effects into my games made with Pygame. I had felt that my other games were pretty bland and did not really have good enough graphics, so you could say that this project was for me to feel better and see how much I have achieved so far with Python.

It is a pretty basic game that can still be improved, however I have decided to stop working on it at the moment.

Could you share with us why you think learning to code is so important?

Programmers are able to help the society by writing software for more advanced equipment, for example medical equipment, which would allow doctors to better assess a patient’s illness. Learning programming has helped me personally too as I’m able to write my own program to help me solve math sums. Another scenario where programming has helped me was when I wrote a virtual version of the board game that my project work group had come up with.

“Learning how to program is important as the world is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, so by learning about programming, one would have more job opportunities in the future, and would be able to do more in the future than others who do not know anything about programming.”

Image of Chen-Yi and his dog

Do you see yourself continuing your passion of coding in the future?

Yes, I would probably take up a job in programming in the future. My current goal is to be selected to join the Computing Talent Programme offered to the Sec 3s and 4s.

Any advice for anyone who is learning how to code?

A word of advice would be to start exploring the programming language that you want to learn by looking at online tutorials and YouTube videos. If they think that that language is what they want to learn, they can then attend a course to learn more about the language.


Thanks for sharing your programming journey with us, Chen-Yi! 😃 We hope that your story inspires many other youths like you to take up coding and discover the endless possibilities that await them once they’ve acquired the skill! 

Chen-Yi has been attending classes at Coding Lab since May 2020 – from passing a placement test to enter Python Perfect 2, and then afterwards advancing to Python 3, to Python Perfect 3 and now S207: Modelling & Simulations!

Learn more about Python, a global top 5 programming language, here. Once you’ve got the foundations, you can find yourself building practically anything from software, to apps, to websites. 😉

(Written by Zulaikha)

Best-in-class Curriculum for Coding

We are honoured to be the winner of multiple awards.
Thank You for your support.

Hop on board the Coding Lab train! Click here to get our monthly newsletters straight to your inbox.

Ages 5-6 | Ages 7-9 | Ages 10-12 | Ages 13-18

Call us at +65 6977 9641
Email us at learntocode@codinglab.com.sg
Chat with us via WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger