What better way to spend time with the whole family while having fun and learning at the same time? In line with our aim to nurture future leaders in technology, we have prepared several #Techtivities for the family to enjoy and discover how technology is a part of many things in our lives! 🤩
Starting off with a #TechFact, did you know that Apple Computer Company was incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976? Apple would go on to revolutionize the tech industry with the IPhone, and it is still one of the top tech companies today! (Source)
Now that we’re learnt a new titbit, keep scrolling on to discover techtivities that you and your family can indulge in this month! ✨
Singapore Air Force Museum
Are your kids huge fans of planes and fighter jets? The Singapore Air Force Museum is the perfect place for them to visit! Learn more about the Republic Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and be fascinated by the various defence vehicles and technology systems that help defend our country. 🚁
What tech is here? 🤔 🧑💻 Be a pilot and execute combat manouevres at the three-player simulator with a realistic panoramic screen to show the pilot’s point of view, all with the help of Augmented Reality! 🧑✈️
🧑💻 See and touch various aircrafts in real life with the help of multimedia and 3D models! 😃
🧑💻 Use the multimedia touchscreen digital console to find out all about the aircraft of RSAF! 🛩️
At Singapore’s first ever children’s museum, your little ones will never be bored! Engaging all of our little ones’ senses, all the exhibits are perfect for them to have fun and learn more about Singapore’s history. 👨👩👧👦
What tech is here? 🤔 🧑💻 The museum’s mascot, Wonderbot, is a virtual robot powered by Artificial Intelligence and will be guiding our tots through their journey back in time with various tasks and interactive panels! 🤖
🧑💻 Be a ship captain at The Voyage in Time, where our little ones can experience sailing on a ship in different weather conditions, and many more! ⚓
🧑💻 How does a predator hunt for prey? Hunt for prey as the Spotted Wood Owl at Imagine a Garden: An A-maze-ing Exhibition through multimedia games powered by Augmented Reality! 🦉
Details: When: Permanent
Where: 23-B Coleman Street, Singapore 179807
Price: Free (for Singaporean and PR)
Learn more here.
Action Motion
Do your tweens and teens just want to stay in front of their tech devices all day? Are they sporty types? Action Motion will present them all an active challenge they cannot resist! Get through various obstacle courses at this adventure playground at your own pace – chill or competitive, there’s something for everyone! 👍
What tech is here? 🤔 🧑💻 Get an enhanced indoor playground experience with various Augmented Reality (AR) powered games and score points! 😄
🧑💻 Up for a challenge? Be part of the leaderboard and record your fastest time through the obstacles course with the help of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in wrist tags! 🏃
Details: When: Permanent
Where: HomeTeamNS Bedok Reservoir
Price: from $35
Learn more here.
2-Hour Easter Coding Workshops
Are you ready to celebrate Easter with us in The Coding Lab Way? Join us for our exciting 2-hour Easter themed workshops for ages 5 to 9 – Grab a friend to join the fun as we’ll be coding exciting games that you can enjoy with your loved ones after class! 🥳
🥚 Ages 5 to 6: Become the Easter Bunny and catch their colourful decorated Easter Eggs! Students will pick up key coding concepts such as loops and conditionals along the way.
🐇 Ages 7 to 9: Program a fun and exciting game for your loved ones to play along – control the Bunny to collect eggs that appears randomly on your game screen! Students will pick up key coding concepts such as loops, clone and sensing.
These are perfect for beginners wanting to dip their toes into the world of coding. Give your child an immersive coding experience with us, and grab your slots!
Singapore has achieved yet another technological breakthrough! Through harnessing AI, the detection of cross-border smuggling and maritime firefighting emergency response 🌊 is now greatly enhanced and expedited.
Check out how the eXaminer, the latest technology, helps to detect illegal items across borders and how an unmanned surface vessel could help to bolster Singapore’s emergency response capabilities here!
If you haven’t seen our previous techtivity recommendations, check out our March #TechtivitiesOfTheMonth, which includes more cool tech-related activities you can do with friends and family!
(Written by Thinzar)
Best-in-class Curriculum for Coding
We are honoured to be the winner of multiple awards.
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We love seeing our students shine and grow as they develop their coding skills and discover how they can find success through coding! Meet one of them today: our student Aidan Sin, age 12, who won the Platinum Award (the highest honour) at the Hwa Chong Infocomm Challenge (HCIC) 2022!
Meet Aidan Sin, who enjoys challenging himself through various coding challenges, even applying his knowledge of Mathematics to his programs!
Aidan found his passion and confidence for programming at Coding Lab, and has recently completed our advanced S100 Python Classes during the holidays! He particularly enjoys integrating his knowledge of mathematics in his coding projects, and has shared with the Coding Lab Team about his fascination with the limitless possibilities that coding provides! There are so many ways to approach a coding challenge, which enables him to let his creativity and imagination flow!
They are impressed by the projects I have made! Coding is also complementary with my interest in maths and problem-solving. Now, it is pretty common for kids to pick up coding skills; once a coder, with passion – always a coder.
Hi Aidan, tell us about yourself! What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Hi! I am Aidan Sin, a keen learner with an inquisitive mind. I am 12 this year. During my free time, I enjoy playing English Chess, Chinese Chess and Wei Qi as these games relax me.
I also like watching Youtube videos relating to maths puzzles, science facts, solving complex video games as well as strategy techniques (eg. 孙子兵法， 三十六计，三国演义 etc). I like to think about perplexing problems and take on challenges. When I come up with an idea, I like to code it into Python and see if it would work. To further challenge myself, I incorporated Maths into it as well!
What do your friends and family say when they hear that you are a coder?
My family members are intrigued when I said I started coding at 7 years old. They are impressed by the projects I have made! Coding is also complementary with my interest in maths and problem-solving. Now, it is pretty common for kids to pick up coding skills; once a coder, with passion – always a coder.
Congratulations on winning the Platinum Award at the Hwa Chong Infocomm Challenge (HCIC)! How do you feel about your achievement?
I am pleased with myself after winning the Platinum Award at the Hwa Chong Infocomm Challenge (HCIC). I know that getting this award is no easy task as I put in a lot of time and hardwork in preparing for HCIC.
Aidan has won awards outside of coding as well!
How was your HCIC experience? What have you learned? What was the best part of it?
The HCIC experience was relatively simple: I stayed back in school, took the test on a computer, and went back home. The best part of the experience was meeting up with old friends. Most of my friends that I knew were either in other classes or were too busy with schoolwork so during this short period before taking the test, I could catch up and have a chat with them.
Tell us how you first got started with coding!
I started my coding journey when I was in Lower Primary 2. During that time, my Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) was Robotics. I was using the Lego Mindstorm to build a robot. Apart from constructing and adding features to it, I was able to use the computer to enable the robot to complete a certain task using code. At first, I was unfamiliar with this coding language but slowly, with the help of my peers, I was finally able to use it! I was even able to represent my school and participated in a National Robotics School Competition with my team.
Subsequently, I discovered Scratch where I started coding more programs. When these programs worked, I was overjoyed! Personally, I see Coding as a vast grassland. With the programs I built, it felt like as I added more houses to the civilisation that I built, it helped others while also benefiting myself.
Aidan is pictured with his parents, who signed him up for Coding Lab’s classes and supported him in his journey in coding!
How did you get started at Coding Lab?
Since I was super interested in coding, my mother searched the web and found Coding Lab. The lessons are packed and filled with knowledge and information which I liked! The lessons were fun and progressively allowed me to challenge myself and learn accordingly. I really want to thank and appreciate Teacher Edmund, he fused fun and laughter in class. I enjoyed attending his class. With his help and preparing my DSA portfolio, I got better at coding!
What do you like about coding? How has coding made a difference to your life?
I like coding as I can use it in limitless ways and many different ways to solve a coding program. Not only am I able to use my left brain in executing the coding process but I can also use my right brain to generate new ideas for my next coding project!
Through coding, I can use both my left brain and right brain, enabling me to be more creative and innovative at the same time! It also teaches me to be patient and to think outside the box when debugging my code. These key virtues are essential during our daily lives, that is why learning to code is so important.
Here at Coding Lab, we encourage our students to engage in individualised learning and independent studying at home, especially for older or more advanced students!
What are some difficulties you faced while learning to code, and how did you overcome them?
Debugging is a tedious task. Debugging and fixing errors in my code are often the challenges that I faced in the past —- and will continue to face as long as my passion for coding continues. These obstacles can be overcome. I needed to “become the computer” and run through the entire program bit by bit until I spotted the error.
Do you have a favourite coding project that you would like to share with us?
I could make a Prime Factorisation program to help out in my Maths, or I can create a Quiz to provide entertainment to my peers!
Here is Aidan’s Prime Factorisation program. He also has a website full of coding projects that he has created as part of his DSA portfolio. Check it out here!
“Aidan is an exceptional and independent student who is enthusiastic in his learning. I am especially impressed by his determination and perseverance in tackling challenges. When encountering something new, he always relishes the challenge of solving the problem by thinking about it from different perspectives.“
– Educator Edmund
What are you coding right now? Do you have any exciting future coding projects or dream projects that you would like to mention?
I have not been coding much lately, as I am preparing for my PSLE. After my exams, I will be sure to start working on some interesting projects that hope to solve some complex world issues.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
My future? I aspire to combine my coding skills and maths & science knowledge to solve people’s problems around the world.
Do you have any advice for young people who are learning to code?
My advice for young people who are learning to code is to keep pursuing your dream, whatever you do, do not give up on your dream. If you work hard enough, it will come true one day.
Thank you Aidan for sharing with us about your passion for coding, and for the words of wisdom you have given for other young people who are learning to code! 🌏
We hope that you are as inspired by Aidan’s thirst for knowledge, enthusiasm for coding and love for learning as we are, and that this will motivate you to take the first step in your very own journey with code!
Aidan Sin, who turns 13 this year, was a student at Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School. He attended P201 App Inventor class at Coding Lab when he was barely 10 years old and advanced his way to our S203 Algorithm course by the time he was 12. Aidan was awarded the Platinum Award (highest honour) at the Hwa Chong Infocomm Challenge (HCIC) 2022.
Our #CodingLabStudents series features our ambitious students and their ongoing coding journeys – be it the budding coder or advanced Python Pro, we appreciate each and every single one’s efforts as they progress to greater heights. 🌱
Coding Lab offers an award-winning curriculum specially for ages 5 to 18 – check out our courses to begin your own coding journey today!
Congratulations to team Urban Coders (ages 13 to 18) for winning the “Sustainable City Development Award” at the 2022 Minecraft Cup! 🏆
The Minecraft Cup is held annually and the theme of 2022 was sustainability and creating an environment that integrates “nature” and “convenience” in the long run. Comprising of both local and Japan students, our young and talented students crossed borders and worked together to come up with innovative ideas.
Team Urban Coders created a city called CodeTropolis Nature. They focused on the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goal 15, and created a city rich with biodiversity and green architecture that blends the urban landscape seamlessly into the surrounding wetlands refuge and nature preserves.
Take a look at their beautiful Minecraft world – CodeTropolis Nature!
Combining their creativity and care for the environment with the help of code, the team was awarded the Sustainable City Development Award, making them one of the four teams to get an achievement in Minecraft Cup 2022!
View the livestream of their presentation here!
In addition, they were also selected for the Tokyo Bay eSG project. Along with another one of our teams, team Wither Coders (ages 7-9), they will be presenting their project to the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike! If selected, our students will get to see their Minecraft project turn into real-life architecture.
It has been tremendously encouraging to watch our students come together (globally too!) with a pioneering idea to help in solving today’s real-world issues. All teams have worked hard and done their best, and we would like to congratulate them all for coming this far. 💚
Want to create your own complex structures and design your dream world on Minecraft? Explore the different possibilities that you can create with our Holiday SpecialMinecraft: Code Your World (ages 10-12) class!
With the school holidays soon upon us, we are all excited to have an enjoyable break with our families. Why not explore the endless possibilities that technology has to offer while having fun through our #Techtivities? 🐇
Let’s kick it off with this month’s #TechFact! Did you know that Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, would send his first ever tweet on the social media platform in 2006? Now, Twitter is the 9th most viewed website globally! (Source)
Now that we’re learnt a new titbit, keep scrolling on to discover techtivities that you and your family can indulge in this month! ✨
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
Artist Vincent Van Gogh is definitely a household name among any art enthusiasts. Coming to Southeast Asia for the first time ever, dive into the world of artist Vincent Van Gogh at Sentosa! 🤩
Starring over 300 of his famous works such as the Starry Night, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience is a 360-degree multi-sensorial exhibition where art meets technology! 🌍
What tech is here? 🤔
🧑💻 Be mesmerised by beautiful artworks as they are digitally projected using Video Mapping technology and combined with movement and sound to enhance your sensory experience! 🖼️
🧑💻 Experience life as Vincent Van Gogh through the help of Virtual Reality (VR), where you can discover the inspiration behind his works! 😲
🧑💻 Transform into an artist yourself as your creative pieces become larger-than-life digital representations with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI)! 🧑🎨
Details: When: from 1 March 2023 Where: Resorts World Sentosa – B1 Forum Price: from $19 Learn more here.
Keppel Centre for Art Education
Is your little one a budding artist, or maybe they are not that interested? Keppel Centre for Art Education at the National Gallery Singapore is sure to convert the kids to art enthusiasts! 😉
Filled with exciting immersive activities and interactive exhibits, your kids are sure to enjoy the wonders of art and explore their creativity! 😊
What tech is here? 🤔
🧑💻 For the active ones, My Ink-Credible Adventure exhibit is sure to be a hit as they make art through running, clapping, jumping and all kinds of action, with the help of tracking technology! 👏
🧑💻 Go the unconventional route and create art using robots at the Ink Studio! 🤖
🧑💻 Draw your own animals, and see them join and interact with the other digital animals in the forest at the interactive Who’s In the Woods exhibit – all done through Artificial Intelligence (AI)! 🐈
Up for a full multi-sensorial experience from visuals, textures, sounds and even smells? 29Rooms is a new exhibit at Gardens by the Bay with 29 interactive spaces created in collaboration with local and international artists. Get ready for your senses to be amazed as you travel to various places while being at the same spot! 😄
What tech is here? 🤔
🧑💻 Adventure through different countries with the help of Immersive Technology from Samsung! ✈️
🧑💻 Experience nature and zen with 360-degree projection created with Mapping Technology, combind with visual and auditory ASMR at the ethereal Huetopia room! 🕊️
🧑💻 Calling fans of singer Billie Eilish! Gather at her room, where you can tag along on her journey of creating her own fragrance and get the full experience from sights and sounds to even smells – all with the help of Projection Technology! 🎤
Is your child a fan of games like Geometry Dash? Maybe they like puzzling over questions. Why not learn to create their own (and even better!) version of platformer games or quiz programs? 😉
At our March Holiday Coding Camps for ages 7 to 18, these are just some of the many possibilities awaiting your child! Be it Scratch, App Inventor, or Python – you can do it all on any platform of your choice.
With both physical and online options, there’s definitely a class suitable for everyone! Hesitate no more, grab a friend this March Holidays and join us here at Coding Lab. Sign up here or feel free to drop us an email, call us or WhatsApp us to get in touch. 😊
Details: When: 13 to 17 March 2023 Where: Online, Parkway Parade, Bukit Timah (KAP Mall) Price: From $401.52
From binary codes to machine learning 🤖, these concepts may seem very daunting, let alone for young children! The children’s storybook “Daisy And Her AI Friends” 📕 was launched by AI Singapore to make AI more easily understandable for kids!
Targeted at lower primary students, this is the first initiative by AI Singapore’s literacy program AI For Kids (AI4K) to improve digital literacy amongst young children. Adapted from winning designs by elementary children, the storybook features illustrations that are children-friendly to make it more relatable to young readers. Learn more about this beautifully illustrated, educational, and children-friendly book on AI here! 🧑🤝🧑
If you haven’t seen our previous techtivity recommendations, check out our February #TechtivitiesOfTheMonth, which includes more cool tech-related activities you can do with friends and family!
(Written by Thinzar)
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.
Games have been at the forefront of entertainment for all ages and have never been more accessible.
The two most popular games on our kids’ minds are Minecraft and Roblox. By the age of 7, many of our Students will have heard about these games through their friends or YouTube channels. As a result, many parents have approached Coding Lab, inquiring about the presence of either a Minecraft or Roblox curriculum where the students can be guided into their foray into online games and at the same time, learn programming.
We sat down with our Educator and Assistant Curriculum Team Lead, Hovan Tan, to ask him his thoughts on what platforms are suitable for our children, and how we came to the decision to develop and launch our special Minecraft Code Your World curriculum, instead of other platforms. Let’s hear from Teacher Hovan! 👏
We sought an answer of creating either a well-designed Minecraft curriculum or Roblox Curriculum for the right age group.
Hours of research commenced, on the platforms. We wanted to ensure that the curriculum we deliver does not only improve your child’s computational thinking skills, but also most importantly, keep our students safe and secure in an online environment.
We chose to create our Minecraft Code Your World curriculum, and forgo Roblox entirely, despite the multitude of requests we received for Roblox classes. For you to better understand our decision, we will be breaking down our prior research on the two platforms.
Let us see how Minecraft and Roblox compare in 2 key areas; (1) online safety, privacy and parental settings, and (2) programming support.
(1) Online Safety and Privacy Features
Minecraft
Minecraft has access to Microsoft’s Xbox features, which include a comprehensive suite of privacy and security features that protects individuals from online dangers.
Parental controls are also available on Minecraft, which allow parents to maintain and monitor their children’s interactions and activity online, enabling/ disabling online features to their choice. Such features are also available in the Java Edition, Bedrock Edition (Windows), and Minecraft Education Edition.
Our Conclusion: Minecraft allows children to enjoy learning and playing with proper parental safeguards in place.
Roblox
Roblox (and Roblox Studio used for programming) is a free platform which is easily accessible online and has an easy account creation process (check out the video below which illustrates this!).
Roblox is an online experience first, online interactions are at the forefront of its success. Minimal account safeguards exist for parents, and most importantly, children can easily circumvent these safeguards by creating a new account in under 5 minutes.
Our Conclusion: Roblox has a low barrier of entry, with minimal safeguards in place, potentially carrying the risk of children being exposed to online dangers.
(2) Programming Support
Minecraft
Image of Minecraft Education Edition’s user interface
Microsoft released the Minecraft: Education Edition in 2016. Players program interactions inside Minecraft using the embedded Microsoft Makecode editor, which allows programming using blocks (for beginner coders, or text-based JavaScript or Python (for Intermediate and Advanced Coders). Microsoft MakeCode is also available in the Minecraft Bedrock as an additional app, an easy-add on programming tool for young gamers.
Microsoft MakeCode easily scales from Beginner all the way to Advanced level programming. The Minecraft MakeCode API (essentially the coding commands) makes it easy to onboard new coders. Students who have done Scratch can use coding concepts they have learned, such as conditional statements and iteration, in MakeCode. Psst: Coders can even quickly switch their programs from Block language to Python or JavaScript so they can see a side-by-side comparison of the languages!
On top of that, Microsoft is actively developing MakeCode and Minecraft Education. They are adding new code commands (API), features, and support on a regular basis, making the platform a real joy to teach and code on.
Roblox
Image of Roblox Studio’s user interface
Released in 2005, Roblox Studio, utilising only the text-based Lua programming language. Roblox does not have a block-based language. Roblox API (application programming interface) is extensive and complex, which is more difficult to understand and discover for young coders and new coders.
Roblox Studio can be paralleled to Unity (a platform used for game development – which we teach to our teens!) which allows game developers to create fully fledged games in Roblox, Whilst the Roblox API allows for creating complex, custom features in games, the learning curve for coding simple things is much more difficult with a steeper learning curve for the average 7-12 year old student.
MINECRAFT VS ROBLOX – PROGRAMMING
Programming on Minecraft is great for young kids to start off with; with drag and drop blocks; which also allows for an easy transition into text-based languages as the student advances. That is why Minecraft is suitable for all ages and programming levels. So when your kid tells you they want to program in Minecraft, believe them! It really is an exciting educational experience they are going through.
Roblox, in contrast, requires advanced knowledge to program more than just the basics. More suited to teens, if you’ve already let your 7 year old try it out; chances are that your young child is spending his/her time playing the game more than coding (so now you know the secret ;-)) Furthermore, without the appropriate parental safeguards and the ease of creating a new account, we really wouldn’t want our students to go there – why start at all; if Minecraft can provide a much better and safer learning and gaming experience?
Minecraft Education Privacy
Restricted Access to Online Games
– Only players that are in the same Azure tenant (the same domain such as @codinglab.com.sg) can join multiplayer worlds together. When students create multiplayer worlds in Minecraft Education, only people with accounts on the same tenant can join their world. In other words: it’s easier to limit your child’s interaction when he plays – you know they’re only playing with their friends from coding class, and not random online strangers!
Classroom Mode for Minecraft
– Minecraft Education Classroom Mode is an optional app that allows teachers to monitor and manage multiplayer games in Minecraft Education, such as disabling chat and pausing the game. Yes parents, we use this all the time to ensure optimal class experience and control 🙂
In summary
Here is the main differences between Minecraft and Roblox platforms.
Our decision?
With our priority being safety and fun learning, it was a clear choice for us. From the credibility of Microsoft, to its multiple years of strict parental controls; to Minecraft being a game first, rather than online interaction. Together with an age-appropriate programming platform, we opted to create a curriculum for our students using Minecraft’s Code Builder!
Our students have won competitions at the National Japan Minecraft Cup Competition for three consecutive years. Every year, students from Singapore and Japan meet online to program and submit their ideas for the cup. Check out our past accolades here (2019,2021,2022). If your child is keen to join us but has no prior experience, keep a lookout for our special Minecraft Code Your World classes are available during our holiday camps for ages 10 to 12. Check out our schedules here under P21S – Advanced Computer Scientists!
This year, we had the opportunity to coach Woodgrove Primary, who won the Most Feasible and Sustainable Award in the National Thinkers Challenge 2022 by Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan!
Out of 52 teams, the team placed in the top 3 and clinched 1 out of the 5 awards presented. This competition aims to let students think of innovative tech solutions and this year’s theme was food wastage, and the students created a prototype mobile app incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Here is the Woodgrove Primary Team during their Award Presentation!
Congratulations to the team who worked hard on their mobile app! They definitely deserved to be featured in 8world for their brilliant project. We are proud to be able to mentor these young talented coders and see the amazing work that they have created at the end of the journey. Thank you, Educator Edmund, for your brilliant coaching and mentorship of the team!
To boost Singapore’s Smart Nation capabilities, the inaugural National Thinkers Challenge (NTC) hopes to introduce to primary school pupils the concepts of design thinking, artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. Organised by the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan, the competition this year drew 232 upper primary pupils from 37 schools.
Hop into the Year of the Rabbit with our compiled list of #techtivities, where you can enjoy time with your family, have fun and see the wonders that technology can bring! 🐇
Starting with February’s #TechFact, did you know that the chess A.I programme “Deep Blue” defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in a game in 1996? That marked the first time a chess computer had beaten a world champion! (Source)
Now that we’re all warmed up, keep scrolling on to discover techtivities that you and your family can indulge in this month! ✨
Mattel PlayHouse
Experience a throwback to childhood and reminisce with your family at Mattel Playhouse! An all-new experiential pop-up playspace at Let’s Play @ Marina Square, it features 12 various activities for our young ones. Ranging from Hot Wheels, Thomas The Train to Barbie, there is definitely fun and exciting awaiting! 🤩
What tech is here? 🤔 🧑💻 Get on the iconic Hot Wheels orange track and control your virtual race car via the controls powered with Sensing Technologies! 🏎️ 🧑💻 Join Thomas and friends on a train adventure using Augmented Reality! 🚂 🧑💻 Explore limitless possibilities with Barbie – gymnast? Pop star? Be whatever you want, with the help of Interactive Technologies! 🤸
Details: When: until 6 April 2023 Where: Let’s Play @ Marina Square Price: from $28 Learn more here.
Disney100: Experience Wonder at Jewel
Can you believe Disney has been around for a century already? 😮 Celebrate 100 years of Disney at Jewel, where you will see a plethora of everyone’s favourite Disney characters and be mesmerised by the sights and sounds! 🥳
What tech is here? 🤔 🧑💻 How can water transform into such beautiful sights? Meet your favourite Disney characters in the water with the help of Projection Technology (and even get the chance to meet them in person!) 😄 🧑💻 Immerse in nostalgia as you hear the classic Disney songs such as You’ve Got A Friend In Me and A Whole New World together with the special light show – this perfect combination made possible with carefully planned programming! 🎶
Details: When: until 9 April 2023 Where: Jewel Changi Airport Price: Free Learn more here.
Future World: Where Art Meets Science (New exhibitions!)
Ever wanted to fly and experience life from above? Visit Future World: Where Art Meets Science at the ArtScience Museum, where there is a new section, Exploring New Frontiers. Featuring 3 new exhibitions, be amazed as you experience the wonder of flight! ✈️
What tech is here? 🤔 🧑💻 See how light and matter interact with you as they disperse, re-organise and change colour at Autonomous Abstraction, Continuous Phenomena from the Universe to the Self with the help of Sensing Technologies! 💡 🧑💻 Become part of a bird flock as you move on colourful bars. Navigate carefully though – whatever you do will affect others in your flock due to Sensing Technologies! 🕊️ 🧑💻 Design and control your aeroplane, hawk or butterfly (or even the universe!) with the smart devices provided and see the world in a different light – all possible due to Augmented and Virtual Reality, as well as Touch Technologies! 🦋
Details: When: Permanent Where: ArtScience Museum Singapore Price: from $16 Learn more here.
March Holiday Coding Camps
Be enchanted by the world of code and the endless possibilities it’ll bring you in our March Holiday Coding Camps for Ages 7 to 18! ✨ Become a coding wizard and create an original platformer game or a multi-functional mobile app, or discover your hidden talents as you design a Python project to help solve your math problems. Fun and excitement await at our coding camps! 🤩
Hesitate no more, grab a friend this March Holidays and join us here at Coding Lab! Code your own world and watch the magic unfold. 🪄 ( psst, we’ve warned you, you’ll be captivated by the world of code 😉) Sign up here or feel free to drop us an email, call us or WhatsApp us to get in touch. 😊
Details: When: 13 to 17 March 2023 Where: Online, Parkway Parade, Bukit Timah (KAP Mall) Price: From $401.52
Looking for a phone charging station to charge your phone? 📱 Always feeling bored while waiting for buses? You can now charge your phones at the bus stop! But here’s the thing, you will have to work your muscles to get your phone charging! 💪
The newly introduced prototype, Recharge aims to encourage exercising by incentivizing users with phone charging benefits and attractive vouchers! This idea was from students of the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Learn more about the concept and the team behind Recharge here!
If you haven’t seen our previous techtivity recommendations, check out our January #TechtivitiesOfTheMonth, which includes more cool tech-related activities you can do with friends and family!
(Written by Thinzar)
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.
Trying to get your work done efficiently but find yourself distracted? We’ve all been there, our attention diverted by social media and other websites instead of focusing on our task at hand. But don’t worry, we have compiled a list of the 8 best browser extensions for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox that are designed to help you focus and boost your productivity! 👍
The Forest extension presents you the dilemma of killing your tree when you press “give up” to go onto a “distracting website”
Want to get motivated while doing work? Why not plant a virtual tree?
“Forest” is an incredible extension for Google Chrome that allows users to customize certain websites to “blacklist” (restricted from viewing) or “whitelist” (allowed for work). While the “Forest” extension is active, a virtual tree starts growing as long as one is being productive and only doing work by using websites that are whitelisted. Visiting a “blacklisted” website will result in a black-screen popping up with the option to “give up”. If one chooses to give up, the tree that they have been growing will be killed. It’s an amazing way to visualize one’s productivity and to give a second thought before visiting distracting websites. However, the ability to do more with the trees and to get greater feedback is locked behind a premium feature that requires one to pay.
What we think:
“Forest” has a very engaging visual element that tugs at you to stay productive or risk seeing your hard work wither up like the tree when you press “give up”. We feel that the visual tree element from “Forest” does a great job in preventing you from visiting those pesky distracting websites!
Session Buddy’s interface with the tabs saved under Productive Websites
Ever found yourself opening up additional tabs to look for more information? Suddenly you have 10-20 tabs open and you can’t remember the specific tab you were looking for! Well, we have a solution for you!
“SessionBuddy” helps you to organize all your tabs into one single list! This was a great help to me when researching topics as I had almost 30 tabs open and was able to simply look down the list to find the article I was looking for. Moreover, it incorporates the ability to organize tabs by topics! To illustrate, while you’re researching a topic, you may have tabs open from multiple different backgrounds. “SessionBuddy” allows you to sort these tabs by grouping them under a common tab! For example, you could have a tab that contains all your social media, a tab that contains all your work, and a tab that contains all other miscellaneous websites! An additional feature of this extension is that it gives you the ability to save the tabs that you’ve been using, even in case of a crash! This was a very useful tool that saved me so much time recovering all my tabs when my computer unexpectedly shut down.
Tab Session Manager’s interface allowing you to save tabs within specific folders (Image taken from Firefox add-on store)
For the Mozilla Firefox Browser, check out Tab Session Manager!
Tab Session Manager offers the same features as SessionBuddy and even allows you to import SessionBuddy’s tabs into it, allowing for greater maneuverability between Firefox and Chrome!
What we think:
The ability to organize your tabs under a single topic with SessionBuddy and Tab Session Manager greatly improves your efficiency as it makes it easier to focus on a particular area before moving on.
The StayFocusd extension on an “unproductive website” before blocking it for the rest of the day
Opened a link on your Whatsapp group and suddenly found yourself roaming through Youtube and Facebook? If only those pesky cute cat videos could wait until you got your work done! Well, introducing “StayFocusd”, a google chrome extension that is designed to solve that issue for you!
StayFocusd, is an easy-to-install website blocker that allows you to spend a certain duration on a website, before blocking it for the rest of the day! The best part of this extension is that it’s highly customizable! You can select specific features to block from certain websites. I found my productivity sky-rocketing after blocking all video content from Facebook that were too effective in distracting me from my work.
The LeechBlock extension giving you the ability to lockdown a website for a specified time
For the Mozilla Firefox browser, consider “LeechBlock NG”! “LeechBlock NG (Next Generation)” allows you to set custom limits on how much time you can spend on a website, limiting it to a certain amount, be it an hour or even 30 minutes a day, or even set custom blocks, such as 7-9pm a day!
What we think:
“Stayfocusd” gives you more control over “LeechBlock”, giving you the ability to block off specific features of the website, while “Leechblock” only allows you to block the entire website.
Productive cycle’s simple but highly configurable interface
Have you heard of the Pomodoro technique? Developed to increase productivity, it is a technique that uses a timer to break your work into intervals with short breaks in between.
“Productive cycles” uses this Pomodoro technique, based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken by 3-to-5 minute breaks and 15-to-30 minute breaks following the completion of four work periods. The extension automatically reminds you when to take breaks and when to continue on your work
What we think:
Having the ability to customize your break lengths and the number of cycles in between definitely makes this worthwhile to experiment and find out the setting works for you the best!
Above: Before using the Just Read extension. Below: After using the Just Read extension to remove all distracting elements!
Ever needed to visit a website but find yourself worried about getting distracted by the elements on the pages? All you want to do is check out the latest news, but you’re completely bombarded with ads and videos. We found a solution! Check out the “Just Read” extension for Google Chrome!
“Just Read” is a great extension for limiting the amount of distracting visuals there are on a webpage. “Just Read” simplifies the article for you so that all you see is the text of the article! The premium version of this extension gives you the opportunity to go further, where you can highlight and annotate pages or even save the “Just Read” version of the articles! No more getting distracted by unrelated media that lead you down a long road of unrelated and non-productive content!
The Youtube productivity mode extension blurring out thumbnails
For the Mozilla Firefox browser, look out for the “YouTube™ Productivity Mode” extension!
The YouTube™ Productivity Mode extension exists with the goal to reduce visual triggers on the screen. By switching to “Productivity Mode”, it automatically blurs thumbnails on Youtube that are designed to grab your attention and distract you from work. With this extension, you would be less tempted to click on unrelated videos and instead, stay focused on your work!
What we think:
“Just Read” does an incredible job in abstracting the text to remove all distracting visuals across a wide range of websites. It’s a fantastic way to focus only on the task at hand. While the “YouTube™ Productivity Mode” does what it claims to do very well, “Just Read”’s potential and applicability across a wider range of platforms gives it the edge over the “YouTube™ Productivity Mode”.
RescueTime’s interface displaying how productive you’ve been today
Can’t seem to understand where your time keeps disappearing to? Why not let your browser tell you?
“RescueTime” is an intuitive extension for Google Chrome that keeps track of the active time you’ve spent online and on different websites. It then presents you with a round-up to help you visualize the time you’ve spent on these different websites, which you can choose to categorize under “productive websites” or “non-productive” websites. At the end of the day or week too, you’re given a score that calculates whether you’ve been productive in the day/week or not!
Toggl Track Producitvity & Time Tracker extension’s interface displaying the numerous features offered
For the Mozilla Firefox browser, consider “Toggl Track: Productivity & Time Tracker”!
“Toggl Track” works similarly to “RescueTime” with a stopwatch inbuilt to help you track the time you spend on your projects online, to capture how productive you’ve been! “Toggle Track” is integrated with over a hundred different apps to allow for more convenient tracking. The premium version for this extension also offers much more services such as reports and insights to visually represent the data.
What we think:
These two options may be preferable to those who may not want to completely block off access to certain websites and would like a bit more control. While both extensions offer much more services in their premium plan, we feel that Toggl’s free plan is superior to Rescue Time’s free plan, with more features such as idle detection and so on. It also has a much more pleasant looking interface.
We recommend “Toggl Track” for their interface and better free plan.
Do you have many tasks and things to complete online? Looking for an easy way to organize and see it with a single click?
Check out “Todoist”, an extension that saves any website you want as a task to complete in your extension tray! The extension personalises settings for depending on whether you are using it work “Work” , “Education” or “Personal”. Set a date and a description and you’re one single click away from your workflow at all times. You can manually input tasks that you have to do as well and prioritize the more important ones by labeling them with colors!
What we think:
Having an easy-to-access task list built-in, made tracking your tasks much easier. However, we were disappointed that the ability to set a reminder was behind a premium paid service as we found ourselves worrying that we could easily forget to check it and hence miss a deadline.
Tired of squinting over your text and wishing someone could just read it out for you? Check this extension out!
Getting started with the Read Aloud browser extension
“Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader” is an extension that uses text to speech technology to read out the current webpage. It increases productivity by giving you an extra dimension to tackle your work by having the extension read out information highlighted to it for any intended purpose. For example, you could let it read out your presentation and listen for any mistakes rather than rely on spotting any mistakes in text format.
What we think:
We personally enjoyed this extension as it was very useful to have the computer read out certain bits of information while we were cross-referencing it against another source. Having it read out aloud also helped to internalize information much faster and was definitely a great addition.
BONUS!
Check out these other browsers such as Vivaldi! Vivaldi contains certain features like SessionBuddy built into its browser itself that allow you to stack tabs under a common topic! It also has great features such as the ability to view two different tabs on the screen at the same time, so you don’t have to keep swapping between tabs! With a variety of customizable options too, Vivaldi is a great option to improve your productivity if you’re looking for a new browser to check out.
We hope that this list helps you in your work or studies! Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comment section below. 👇
(Written by Lech, edited by Thinzar)
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One of our most beloved educators, Stephanie Swee charms her class with her unique personality and background in Cyber Security!
A board game aficionado with past work experience in the IT industry, she aspires to bring the same level of enthusiasm to her classroom and pass on her passion for coding to her students. Travel with us through her journey into becoming a Coding Lab Educator! 😄
Hi Stephanie! It’s great to meet you, can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi everyone! I’m currently a full-time educator at Coding Lab and my passion is teaching and helping others. When I’m not teaching, I spend my time with my family, reading books and playing board games. I’m an avid board gamer. After my Saturday class, it’s usually time for my board games night with my friends. I really love playing logic and deduction games!
Our always cheery educator, Stephanie!
How did you get started with coding?
As a kid, coding was not something popular in school. I never knew much about coding until I was 16, when I first took my information technology diploma. It was then where I picked up coding. It never crossed my mind that one day coding would be a part of my life, until I entered the workforce and realized that there were a lot of repetitive tasks to be done, that could be automated by putting my coding skills to good use. My inspiration to code is really to save the time on these tasks and spend more time on other tasks.
I see! What was your inspiration for taking up a diploma in the field of technology?
My inspiration stemmed from an encounter with my lecturer during my Polytechnic days who shared with me her previous work experience in Cybersecurity which got me intrigued. Hence, I decided to pursue a specialisation in information security. I remember in one of my classes, my lecturer actually set up a scene similar to that seen in Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) for us to get into the mood and everything. It was the most fun and memorable class that I had ever attended. The exposure and experience that I gained then really piqued my interest in pursuing a career in the Cybersecurity industry as a Forensic Analyst.
That’s interesting! How was the start of your coding journey?
It was tough at first. During my time, I think the resources were not as extensive as now. I remember how my best companions at that time were always the documentations and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which allowed different platforms to interact with each other. I had to be independent and learn to figure out everything by myself and search for information on my own.
Times certainly have changed. Can you elaborate more on that and also tell us what your experience in Cybersecurity has taught you about coding?
I think pursing a technology related degree and diploma at a time where it was not popular, gave me this serendipity that really changed my life goals. Nowadays, I feel that coding is becoming more popular at a young age and the mindset of people pursuing technology for higher education has changed greatly. There are so many programming languages available. Moreover, learning coding has also been made more simplified and fun for everyone to pick up, and the resources online are so extensive that it’s easier to find solutions.
I’m glad that I took this route as I feel that coding will always be the most useful and in-demand skill that I can provide through teaching.
That’s great to hear. When did you decide to become an educator?
Stephanie is always ready to lend her students a hand!
I have always liked to share my knowledge with others and the other half of my life has also revolved around teaching. During my school vacation, I was doing relief teaching in a preschool. After I graduated, I did relief teaching at an MOE based school for about 4 months and afterwards, I volunteered at a non-profit organisation to give free English reading classes to underprivileged kids for about 2 years while i was working. To be honest, teaching was my retirement plan but I have decided to “retire” earlier instead since I already had plans to do this, why not now as I really do love to interact with people more than computers!
What is your main source of motivation for teaching?
Personally I love kids and being with them sometimes has taught me to always live in the moment. I love to see the smiles on their faces when they have fun. I also find myself learning a lot from them as well. Being able to share my knowledge with everyone and seeing the students learn new concepts really gives me satisfaction.
“The students are really heart-warming and sweet. They really make me look forward to going to classes.”
Tell us more about your experience here in Coding Lab!
Stephanie’s student proudly showcasing his work to her!
The learning environment at Coding Lab is very conducive and everyone is really nice and passionate about teaching. I think they ignite the drive in me to be a better educator every day. Seeing the students be able to make a project on their own really makes me go the extra mile to do something different for them. I think the most satisfying moment that I had was my first App Inventor class. Seeing the students start out with no background but remain so invested in developing the application made me feel good knowing that they enjoy coding!
How do you conduct your classes here?
I would try to project my voice to gain their attention. I give them plenty of encouragement and I would also share interesting stories with them. Patience and having an attitude to constantly learn really helps me a lot. I always share with my students that I also learn alongside with them and I’m not afraid of letting them know that. Even if I make mistakes, I would correct it and find solutions for it.
Why do you think it’s important to teach coding to the next generation?
Learning the syntax is easy. The logical thinking behind the program is the most challenging part of coding. Behind a good program is a good coder who implements the brains. The most beneficial part of coding is definitely the process of conditioning the brain for logical thinking. Logical thinking can be applied everywhere, not just in coding. For example, we can look at cooking! The recipes are all steps that are well thought out so that the cook can whip out the dishes easily and likewise, coding follows a similar path!
“Even if one day my students decided to pursue other interests, this logical thinking would be the best gift for them in their life.”
Do you have any advice for others who may be looking to transition into being an Educator?
Besides having passion for teaching, having a nurturing attitude and creativity is important.
Thank you for your time, Stephanie! We hope that you continue to learn from your students as they excel under you. We appreciate your enthusiasm for your classes!
(Written by Lech, edited by Thinzar)
Best-in-class Curriculum for Coding
We are honoured to be the winner of multiple awards.
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Hop on board the Coding Lab train! Click here to get our monthly newsletters straight to your inbox.
The end of holidays does not mean the end of having fun. Combine fun and learning about technology through our techtivities, where we can enjoy a day out with our family and get to see amazing technology in action!
Starting off with a #TechFact for 2023, did you know that Wikipedia was launched 22 years ago on the 15th of January, becoming the “largest and most-read reference work in history”? As of 2022, they are still in the top 5 most popular websites in the world, and they have information available in 329 languages with contributions from users all over the world! (Source)
Now that we’re all set, keep scrolling on to discover techtivities that you and your family can indulge in this month! ✨
Light to Night Festival
Up for a unique art experience? Engage all your senses and interact with art in playful and innovative ways at the Light to Night Festival! From exciting self-guided tours, gamified tours, interactive installations, to a relaxing chill-out zone and activities with prizes to be won, there is sure to be something fun for everyone in the family. Make sure to register early!
What tech is here? – Participate in a tour without a guide with the help of Augmented Reality (AR)! – Immerse yourself in light and sound at the “Ephermeral” installation as these bubble-tectures, choreographed to a reactive soundscape using sensing technologies, produce a magical sight at night. – Featuring three carefully programmed projection works, “Art Skins on Monuments” is the biggest façade light show in Singapore and will showcase the beauty of our architecture through façade lighting technology! ️️
Details: When: 6 to 26 January 2023 Where: Civic District Singapore Price: Free Learn more here.
Avatar: The Experience
Caught the new Avatar: The Way of Water movie and left wanting more? Step into the mysterious world of Avatar and immerse yourself further in their alien universe at Avatar – The Experience at Gardens by the Bay. Take your immersion to the next level by interacting back and forth with life-sized animatronic characters and the Pandora world, and even transforming into an avatar yourself!
What tech is here? – See AR in action by “avatar-ising” yourself at the interactive booths – Take control and fly a banshee at the stations available, just like how you would a robot! – Become part of Avatar with characters reacting real-time to the environment and an interactive multimedia installation for you to interact with the world with the help of Sensing and Interactive technologies!
Details: When: until 31 March 2023 Where: Gardens by the Bay Price: from $27 Learn more here.
Mega Carnival @ Downtown East
Calling all fun-lovers out there to the Mega Carnival, where there are over 20 unlimited games and rides, all for a single price! Packed with exciting attractions such as VR games, photobooths, arcade games, and carnival rides, and spots to relax with snacks from the food truck, this is the perfect place for the whole family.
What tech is here? – Enter 4 new worlds and stimulate your senses with games powered by Virtual Reality (VR)! – Diving into a ball pit is always fun for our little ones, and what better than an interactive dinosaur game right there in the ball pit, with the help of Interactive Technologies? – Watch dinosaurs come to live with Animatronics and control your own robot at the Robot Navigator carnival game!
Details: When: until 5 February 2023 Where: D’Marquee at Downtown East Price: from $28 Learn more here.
2023 Weekly Coding Classes
Get a headstart this new year with our coding classes! With an MIT-inspired, award-winning curriculum specially curated for ages 5 to 18, there are classes for both beginners and the initiated.
Immense possibilities await! Learn basic computational thinking and coding concepts in our Scratch, App Inventor and Python introductory classes, and discover just how much you can create with just a good foundation. Advance further to learn more about the world around us, and find out how popular programs work, whether it be Quiz programs, games like Geometry Dash, or web applications!
With both physical and online options, there’s definitely a class suitable for everyone! Sign up here or feel free to drop us an email, call us or WhatsApp us to get in touch.
Details: When: from 3 January 2023 Where: Online, Parkway Parade, Bukit Timah (KAP Mall) Price: From $401.52
In an effort to promote digital literacy, DBS Foundation and the government will contribute a total of S$1 million dollars to fund the national Digital for Life (DFL) movement.
The funding is expected to benefit nearly 100,000 Singaporeans over the next two years. Read more on the efforts of the DFL movement here!
If you haven’t seen our previous techtivity recommendations, check out our December #TechtivitiesOfTheMonth, which includes more cool tech-related activities you can do with friends and family!
(Written by Thinzar)
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.
