#CodingLabParenting: 3 Keys to Unlock Your Child’s Successful Future

We all want our students to grow up to be successful – and as parents and educators ourselves, we understand this too. It’s important to note that there is no one definition of success for everyone. But in a world that’s increasingly becoming technology-driven, how can we help our children on their journey to their own definition of success?

Today, we speak to our Founder and Lead Educator, Yong Ning Foo, and our experienced educators, Salena Arsad and Evan Lim, on the qualities and skills your child will need to navigate this future in technology. Read on to find out more!

Key 1: Cultivating Grit

Photo of Evan guiding his students through their code
Our educators encourage students to persevere as they code and debug their programs, building grit and resilience.

The path to meaningful success is never smooth, so what helps your child to overcome the obstacles that they will face? Grit is the answer, Angela Duckworth, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, concluded after years of research. She found that high achievers have more grit than talent.

What is grit? Grit is the passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Having grit is fundamental to your little one’s journey because it encourages your child to push on despite new and unfamiliar things.

Our Founder and Lead Educator, Yong Ning Foo, who has had bountiful work experience in both the public and private sectors, agrees that grit is required to overcome obstacles faced. He recalls a fond memory of one of his students: “When he (the student) first joined us, his response to any bug encountered was to wait for the teacher to give him the answer. But our teachers will only give hints and not direct answers, so he was challenged to think and solve the problem by himself and became highly independent in his learning. He then adopted the same mentality to learning Mathematics, and shared with us that his Mathematics grades had improved tremendously.”

Photo of our Early Childhood Educator Salena guiding our Junior Coders Programme student
Tutor Salena encourages our curious little Junior Coder to explore an activity.

This situation is a common occurrence in our coding classes – whether they are preschoolers aged 5 or an 18-year-old teenager – they will definitely encounter problems with their code and will need to problem-solve it. This process of debugging trains students to become problem solvers and also encourages perseverance and grit.

“Those that continue on would often find that the results are satisfying,” shares Salena, our educator with professional experience in Early Childhood Education and who graduated with a Master of Education (Developmental Psychology) from Nanyang Technological University. “The confidence gained from this experience would push them to new heights of growth, encouraging them to further expand their knowledge no matter how difficult it will be.”

Read: Cultivate Resilience with the Power of Inquiry-Based Learning

How can you nurture your child’s grit at home?

How can you nurture your child’s grit at home?

Encourage a healthy attitude to mistakes to instil a growth mindset. Share about failure being an opportunity to learn and grow. Praise effort, not the outcome!

Key 2: Turning Everyday Experiences into Learning Opportunities

Curious little ones often have lots of questions, and life experiences such as playtime, meal times, and learning a new skill can also become huge learning opportunities! For example, as they learn to communicate with computers via codes in our coding classes, they also learn to communicate with their educators and peers, honing essential life skills such as social and emotional development.

Gif of Salena's P101 Scratch 1 student Dylan presenting
We make it a point to nurture our students’ public speaking skills – even in our Scratch 1 classes when our young coders are just aged 7 to 9!

Did you know that teaching your child to regulate their emotions can also help them communicate more effectively? Better self-regulation means that they’ll be more attuned to and can address others’ needs efficiently, helping them improve their communication.

Encouraging your little one to share about things they like, such as their toys, can also be an excellent springboard to hone their ability in public speaking! At Coding Lab, we also make it a point for our students to have a Hackathon and Project Showcase at the end of each course to present and share what they have coded. Aside from building their communication skills, “We want them to be confident and proud of their creation, and to get others excited about it,” Yong Ning shares.

How can you enrich your child's learning beyond the classroom?

How can you enrich your child’s learning beyond the classroom?

We have some tips from Tutor Salena Arsad, our educator with professional experience in Early Childhood Education and who graduated with a Master of Education (Developmental Psychology) from Nanyang Technological University.

– Encourage your child to express their thoughts and feelings. Instead of asking them general questions like “How was your day?”, follow up on specific ones about how they feel every day. I always ask my students, “What happened? Why do you feel that way?” By asking such questions, they will need to break down their thoughts and emotions into logical facts, and part of emotional regulation is to look inside and understand the reason why they feel that certain emotion. Following that, I would provide tips on how to handle such a situation if it ever arises again.

– Teach your child to identify their emotions. Examine what triggers these emotions, and how they can manage these emotions themselves. Do not encourage negative rash behavioural responses – even ignoring can mean encouragement. Instead, show them the appropriate responses to that situation.

– Spark their curiosity. Your child is naturally curious and this is a good characteristic as it tends to motivate them to find out more about the topic on their own. It’s important to encourage your child to explore and ask them questions to maintain their level of curiosity. In doing so, they also form connections between what they’ve learnt in class and what they experience in life.

Key 3: Picking Up Prized Technical Skills from Young

Music, dance, martial arts, sports, brain training, drama – there are so many enrichment classes to attend and so many technical skills for your child to acquire! Learning skills from a young age is the best opportunity to develop their brain and to give our little ones a competitive edge to stand out. But with so many to choose from, which one should you pick to future-proof your child?

“To be future-ready, our young need to be able to think critically, assess options and make sound decisions. They should have a desire to learn, explore and be prepared to think out of the box.”

– Nurturing Our Young for the Future, Competencies for the 21st Century, Ministry of Education (MOE) Singapore

Photo of Yong Ning guiding his students
Our young Scratch students are hard at work to train up their Computational Thinking Skills with Yong Ning’s guidance!

Technology is advancing rapidly and is quickly changing the way we live, work and play. “Whichever path is chosen, it will cross paths with technology,” advises Yong Ning. “As a parent and an educator, I would want all my children and students to be equipped with Computational Thinking skills (problem-solving skills derived from computing and computer science, to solve problems across all other areas), so that they can competently partake in the development and application of technology in whichever field they choose.” As our students learn to code, they are also learning to use technology – another key skill in our future, where they will have to pick up new technology quickly, efficiently and independently.

Indeed, technology is ubiquitous and even MOE is beginning to prepare educators and students for our tech-driven future. Every primary student will learn simple coding in school, and every secondary student will own their own personal learning device by 2028.

“Technology is fast-changing,” agrees Tutor Evan Lim, our educator who mainly works with teenagers, “so I always encourage my students to read up more and share with me what they have learnt. There are a lot of different resources available on the internet that they can utilise to learn more about different things.” For example, Tutor Evan’s passionate student Ng Chen-Yi was just 13 years old when he built on his existing coding knowledge and independently learnt to code his very own 3D shooter game with Ursina in Python.

Read Coding Lab Student Feature: Ng Chen-Yi, 13, Hwa Chong Institution

It’s important that your child learns a range of skills to set them up for success in the future. “There isn’t a single definition of success,” Yong Ning reaffirms. “It is different for each person as it is shaped not just by societal expectations but also the person’s personality, and their own life experiences. Every student will thus have to create their own definition of success.”

Heard of the age-old adage, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”? Cultivating grit, turning everyday experiences into learning opportunities and picking up prized technical skills from young are some key ways that you can equip your children. With lifelong skills such as Computational Thinking, communication and social and emotional development, you can nurture your future leader to become successful – no matter the path they choose.

Why not give your child a headstart with our award-winning, MIT-inspired coding curriculum for ages 5 to 18?

Want more tips on how to sustain this journey to success? Read Next: Health is wealth: Brain food for a healthy mind and body.

(Written by Lakshmi, Nicole, Amanda and Edited by Cheryl)

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5 Upcoming Technologies You Must Know About In The Artificial Intelligence Era

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

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#CodingLabParenting: Get Fit in 5 Minutes A Day! – Break Ideas for Fun and Wellness

We know that taking care of the little ones while working from home can be reaaaal hectic – we’ve been there too. Hang in there, mums and dads! 💪 We’ve got your back with these quick and fun wellness activities that you can rope your kids in to do together.

I’m sure as parents we know that taking breaks has many benefits. That’s why our classes have always had breaks (and will continue to have them), whether they are physical or online classes. We want our students to rest their eyes and get that extra brain boost to be the best coder that they can be!

So, we thought we would share with you the wellness activities that the Coding Lab Team encourages our students to do during breaks. We have even included the recommended age groups so that you can choose the right one. Our suggestion? Perhaps one video a day with your children (and family) so that they can remember it in the long run!

1. Eye Workouts

We only have one pair of eyes to see the world around us. Pamper it with a little massage or simply relax it gently with these videos that we have compiled for you. Maintain optimal eye health with these easy eye exercises!

Bond with your tiny tots when you perform this simple eye massage to a catchy song together. Massage the face to relieve tension quickly and easily. 

Recommended for: Ages 4 to 6 (Accompanied by parents)

Squeeze your eyes tight and then open wide! This soothes your eyes and facial muscles while you inhale and exhale deeply. It’s easy, effective and energising.

Recommended for: Ages 4 to 9

Need a quick screen break? Soothe your optic nerves and relax your eyes in less than 2 minutes. All you need are your palms, then you are good to go!

Recommended for: Ages 7 and above

Want more ideas on other eye exercises that you can do? Check out this 2-minute video that introduces 8 simple eye exercises you can do anywhere.

Recommended for: Ages 10 and above

These exercises aim to soothe your optic nerves and relax your eyes. This way, you can strengthen your eye muscles, increase your focus, ease eye movements, and stimulate your brain’s vision centre. Feeling creative? You can even design an eye workout with your favourite eye exercises.

2. Deskercise

Did you know that ‘deskercise’ (desk exercise) is a thing? All you need is a desk and chair for these moves. This is useful even if you are in the office or classroom – just do not start busting these moves while you are eating at the dining table! If you are feeling stiff, these two-minute workouts feature exercises that can all be done without leaving your chair.

Grab a chair and get moving with arm rolls and leg in-and-outs!

Ready for more deskercise? We have twists and knee lifts!

That very chair you are sitting on has some versatile functions. Try some ‘deskercise’ as the catchy music and bright colours encourage you to move along! There’s nothing like some quick yet effective movements to get active and loosen those tense muscles after sitting for a while.

Recommended for: Ages 4 to 9

Want something to add to your daily routine? Check out this 3-minute stretching plan that you can easily fit into your day!

Stretch your lower body with this 2-minute desk stretch, so you can feel your best. 

Try out some 3-minute chair yoga stretches to relax your muscles and mind.

Feeling an ache in your neck and shoulders? Here are 3 quick stretches you can do to target those tight spots!

Stretch your neck, back and arm muscles without leaving your desk! These quick and easy tutorials of chair yoga stretches (yes, it’s an upgrade from the primary school version) relieve stiff, tight shoulders and neck at your desk. Instil good digital habits and get active during your short breaks!

Recommended for: Ages 10 and above

3. Look out of the window

It is no secret that our Parkway Parade campus boasts a great view of East Coast Park and the sea. It is where our students are naturally drawn to during their breaks, which works wonders for calming and relaxing their eyes. What are the sights and sounds around your home?

Play “I spy with my little eye” with this catchy song and challenge your child to spot things around them according to the alphabets.

Recommended for: Ages 4 to 7

Go through these simple exercises, naming the things that you see around you or outside of the window. It is a great way to spend your eye break!

Recommended for: Ages 8 and above

Look out of your window together to rest your eyes and absorb the lush greenery! Appreciate the nature around you and look far away, such as spotting planes and looking at different cloud shapes. This is great for the eyes, and it is also a therapeutic experience.

4. Take deep breaths

Breathe in… and breathe out. We have all heard these words. But how often do we practice them? Release the tension in those muscles with some deep breathing exercises!

Teach your little ones square breathing with some underwater friends. They will learn the handy technique and can visualise it when they need to relax.

Recommended for: Ages 4 to 9

Take a deep breath with one of the top mindfulness apps, Calm. They have a relaxing, 1-minute video as you go down the river. Got 3 minutes to spare instead?

Recommended for: Ages 10 and above

These videos impart deep breathing to help you relax and stay calm during times of stress, or even when feeling a little stiff. Oxygen helps to promote blood flow, flushing out the lactic acid that causes muscle soreness. You can also view this playlist of helpful short videos with picturesque views and guided breathing and meditation. Feel as good as new with some breathing exercises!

5. Replenish your energy with drinks and snacks

A boy sitting on a bean bag snacking
Our students snacking at our Parkway Parade campus.
Note: Masks were only removed when eating, and social distancing measures were in place.

We could all use a little perk-me-up at any time of the day. This is why we provide snacks to our students during breaks and encourage them to drink more water. Our Python Perfect students sometimes even bring their own tidbits to nibble on as they get in the zone and code on. 

As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” Choose the healthier options, such as the list of brain food we have compiled here. It is also as important that you drink plenty of water and stay hydrated throughout the day. As an added benefit, getting to your snacks and drinks can also help you to rack up more steps. Research has found that this can even improve your creativity!

We hope that you had fun doing these activities together with your family, taking productive and fun wellness breaks, and making great memories working from home and together with your family!

Read: Getting Through MOE HBL

At Coding Lab, we do our best to instil these habits, which we hope will go a long way. If you see your children doing some exercises during their coding classes, don’t be shy and join in the fun. Let’s all work together to achieve better physical and mental wellbeing!

Read Next: More Tips to Better Eye Health

GIF of our Young Computer Scientists doing some deskercise - with grandpa joining in the fun!
Our Young Computer Scientists doing some deskercise – with grandpa joining in the fun!

(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.

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Should my child DSA (Coding)? Coding Lab’s P300 Portfolio Preparation Programme for DSA

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Coding Lab Student Feature: Aarhan Salujah, 13, St Joseph’s Institution

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Coding Lab Educator Feature: Ryan Wong

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Fun Techtivities in August!

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Congratulations to our 7 winners at the Hwa Chong Infocomm Challenge 2022!

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All About NFTs, Simplified

Screenshot of Online Class forming a heart together

Join our LIVE online classes!

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

#CodingLabParenting: A Guide to Getting Through MOE HBL

Home-Based Learning (HBL) is slowly becoming the new norm, with students, teachers and parents familiarising themselves with digital devices in order to continue the pursuit of knowledge.

Wondering how to enjoy HBL with your child or how you can get through it? Look no further! From concerns of screen time to helping your child acclimatise to online learning while juggling other responsibilities, we have you covered!

The Coding Lab Team has specially curated a list of tips for you and your child to navigate this HBL successfully. Take deep breaths and read them below!👇

Tip #1. Create a conducive environment for learning

Tip #1 - Create a conducive environment

Did you know?
Good learning environments can increase one’s motivation, focus and general learning ability.

Ensuring a conducive learning environment is fundamental to the quality of your kid’s learning. So, what are some ways that you can create the ideal learning environment and help your child to learn better? 

  • The state of your child’s study space can determine their learning ability and life habits, so encourage them to organise their study area. This reduces visual distractions, which improves focus and memory. It also helps that you are building good lifelong habits in them!

  • Too many members in your household at home? Discuss and decide on the house rules and map out the areas to learn, work, rest, and bond. Your child could do HBL at the tidy dining table while you work in the living room. This way, everyone has the perfect environment to work and study in!

Tip #2. Plan daily routine

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Did you know that planning a daily routine with your kid also encourages them to take ownership of their learning?

Unlike in schools where there are teachers to supervise your child, you may not always be available to watch over them, nor make certain that they are doing their work. In this case, it is crucial that you establish a structured routine with them.

Guide your child to plan their own HBL days and set their own learning goals. This will help your child to get into the right mindset, be more productive and keep the boundaries between work and home from blurring.

  • Consider when to study, play and eat together, which will teach your child to be disciplined and to stay on track.
  • Ensure that mealtimes are consistent (balanced and nutritious) to provide nourishment for your growing children.
  • Make sure that your child changes out of his/her pyjamas before HBL starts! This will serve as a cue to start the school day.

Tip #2 - Plan daily routine

Need a planner template?
The Coding Lab team has created a printable planner for you. Print it out and put it on the fridge, use a whiteboard, Google or Apple calendar – try it out and find out what works best!

Tip #3. Inculcate healthy digital device habits

Tip #3 - Inculcate healthy digital device habits

Did you know?
You can control and monitor your child’s screen time with Digital Wellbeing on Android devices and Screen Time on Apple devices. Beyond simply restricting your kid’s access, educate them on how they can take responsibility for their own online well-being. 

Read more: 5 Tips to Better Eye Health

With full HBL, the age at which children use digital devices and are encouraged to get one of their own is getting younger. Healthy digital device habits are necessary for our digital economy, with the widespread use of digital devices. What are these “healthy digital device habits”? It refers to using the Internet responsibly, minimising screen time and taking regular eye breaks! 

Follow ROLE to cultivate healthy screen use habits:

  • Review your child’s and your own screen use, so you can be a role model for your little one.
  • Offer fun screen-free alternatives to engage your kid. For example, have them do off-screen activites with family-friendly games such as Jenga or a family exercise session together.
  • Limit your child’s screen time and ensure that there are consequences to violating their amount of screen time allocated. 
  • Eliminate unneeded background screen time, such as the TV, to avoid distracting your child. 

Additionally, enforce regular eye breaks. We make it compulsory for our students to take eye breaks every hour – whether they are doing physical or online classes. This instills good eye care habits, and we all know the benefits of having breaks – it gives us a breather and helps us to be productive and stay focused. Set a timer and look out of the window at something green together with your child, and reap the benefits together!

Tip #4. Have regular check-ins

At the end of the day, make time to have regular conversations with your child. Such check-ins can help them feel supported and cared for. Ask your child about their day gently, but be sure to listen attentively! Simple questions such as ‘How was your day?’, ‘What did you learn in class today?’ and ‘How is your daily routine?’ can spark a meaningful conversation.

It is essential for you to model this behaviour by sharing about your day too. How was your own day? You can take the opportunity to bond with your child and affirm him/her for the resilience and learning to adapt to the current situation, encourage your child to explore strengths and interests, and help them work through any issues that they might need help with. You can also involve other family members and check in on their well-being.

This is also a good chance for you to exemplify how the topics they have learnt in their textbooks and assignments work in real life. For instance, if your child is learning about lipids in school, you could make a cup of Dalgona coffee with them and explain the science behind how lipid compounds in coffee oil help to form a stable coffee foam that you can pour over milk. You can even get creative and make latte art together too!

Tip #4 - Have regular check-ins

Wondering what to talk about?
Here are some conversation starters and topics.

  • Do you require any guidance or assistance?
  • Is there something that you want to do or learn more about?
  • How do you feel about the current COVID-19 situation?

Tip #5. Have ‘me time’

Tip #5 - Have 'me time'!

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We’re giving away 5 sets of colourful STEM comics by Piqolo Kids for ages 3 to 9. Hurry on and participate here, the giveaway ends on 31 May 2021!

‘Me time’ is a need for daily functioning, not a want. It also increases productivity! By making a conscious effort to take the time out to relax, it can release stress and tension, and increase motivation.

MOE announced that HBL would enable students to have the time and space to explore their areas of interests by initiating learning activities independently. Let your child read up on topics of interest or try out activities they are passionate about, such as tinkering, baking or playing a musical instrument (why not give coding a try?).

But, ‘me time’ shouldn’t only be reserved for your child! Yes, even if you are a responsible parent, you still need your own personal time. We know that working from home and supervising your kids can be tough and require more of your attention. All this parenting can have a mental and physical strain on you. Making time for yourself to rest and recharge is paramount in preventing severe burnout during this time. Play your favourite movie, contact your friend for a chat or take a jog — just find time for your personal relaxation! Remember, taking care of yourself is the first step to taking care of your children. 

We hope these five tips will help you in getting through HBL with your dear child (or children!), and do share this article with your friends and family if you found it useful! 

Now that you’ve read our article on what you can do to get through your child’s HBL, why not learn even more tips to make your child’s digital journey the best it can be? From proper typing posture to digital security, read What You should know Post-Circuit Breaker now to learn more and gear up for when Hybrid classes make a comeback! 😉

Need more resources? You can check out the Parent Kit curated by MOE. Remember to stay home, stay safe and stay curious! 🤩

(Written by Amanda Soh and Edited by Cheryl Tang)

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#CodingLabParenting: 5 Memory Tips to Ace Exams

The task of understanding and memorising important facts and information for exams can be daunting at times. Every mark counts and you definitely want to answer all the questions and get the highest score you can get! 💯

Before beginning to memorise, you should always understand the content first – then memorise. When we teach our students to code, we ensure that they understand the codes and can apply them regardless of the situation, instead of simply memorising and following. Memorising is the key that will help you to do your questions quickly and to lock in your marks, and we find that it works best for facts and formulae.

The Coding Lab team is here to lend a helping hand for you to strengthen your memory and ace your exams with flying colours. Check out the tips that we’ve specially curated below! 

Resized Memory Tips - Test Yourself

1. Test yourself! 

When you learn and memorise something new, it is important to test yourself. By doing so, you are asking yourself questions about the material. As a result of that, you have to recall the content that you have memorised to the best of your ability. 

This particular method works because recalling the material makes the memories stronger and easier to retrieve for later [1]. By consolidating and reinforcing your knowledge, you will have a better grasp of how much and how accurate your memory work is. 

You can test yourself by using paper and pen to write out the formulae, voice record yourself reciting the content, or even collaborate with your friends with free online tools like Quizlet. It is a free tool that allows you to create digital flashcards and quizzes to test yourself and share questions with others. This way, you can see how much you’ve remembered and what else you have to work on remembering better!

2. Use mnemonics

A mnemonic is a tool that helps us retain information by translating it into a form that is simpler or easier to remember [2]. They can come in the form of a song, rhyme, acronym, image, phrase, or sentence [3]. The use of mnemonics can help you remember material swiftly and are particularly useful when the order of things are important. 

An example of an easy mnemonic is for compass directions – North, East, South, West. You can use the following expression Naughty Elephants Spray Water to recall the different directions. 

In fact, mnemonic codes are widely used in computer programming and communications system operations so as to enable its user to recall specific instructions effortlessly [4]! How cool is that? 

Memory Tip 5 - Use mnemonics image

Here is an example of a mnemonic in Math – the BODMAS:

Source: Skills You Need

Resized Memory Tips - Sleep

3. Sleep well

Did you know that not sleeping or getting enough sleep could lower your learning abilities by as much as 40%? Getting too much sleep on the other hand could also affect memory and other cognitive processes [6]! 

Sleep helps to consolidate the information that you have learned into memories that are stored in the brain. With the right number of hours of sleep, the brain has sufficient time to create new pathways for the information learnt. Hence, being sleep deprived could make it more difficult for you to remember things and even impact your focus, reduce decision-making skills. You may also have poor emotional and behavioural control. 

We all know that an average adult needs about 8 hours of sleep, but what about children and teenagers? Take a look at the list below to find out how many hours of sleep you or your child needs! 

4. Use chunking

Chunking is the process of taking individual pieces of information and grouping them into larger and more meaningful units [5]. Grouping single elements into larger blocks can improve your working memory immensely as information becomes easier to retain and recall.

A simple example of how you can use chunking would be when you remember phone numbers. A phone number sequence of 6-9-7-7-9-6-4-1 would be chunked into 6977 9641. 

As for remembering items from a list – for example, a shopping list – you can break them down into smaller groups and categorise them based on whether they are dairy, grains, fruits, vegetables, or more. 

Memory Tip 4 - Use Chunking image

“Chunking is the ability of the brain to learn from the data you take in, without having to go back and access or think about all that data every time … it makes our brains more efficient. The more you can chunk something, the faster and easier you can process it.” 

Kevin Maney, best-selling author of The Two-Second Advantage

Resized Memory Tips - Eat Healthily

Check out Food For Thought: Best brain food for programmers for more food tips to get that brainpower to code!

5. Have a healthy diet 

As the saying goes: “You are what you eat.” In order to achieve good memory, it is important to watch what you consume. 

Your overall diet has a significant impact on your brain health. Inflammatory diet patterns that are high in sugar, unhealthy fats and processed foods could bring negative effects like impaired learning and an increased risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s [7].

In fact, research has shown that this way of eating does not only affect our body, but also parts of our brain responsible for memory – mainly the hippocampus. A study conducted by the University of Cambridge discovered that obese people were 15-20% worse at a memory test than participants who were of a healthy weight [8]. 

It is never too late to change your diet – adopt a diet rich in brain-healthy foods like fish, fruits and vegetables to ensure your brain sustains its optimal functioning.

We hope these five tips will help you in strengthening your brain memory 🧠💪 and do share this article with your friends and family so they can benefit too! 

Wondering about how you can score in your specialised computing examinations? We’ve also curated 3 Tips to Take On Your O Level Computing Examinations just for you!

(Additional writing by Lakshmi and Nicole)

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#CodingLabParenting: Food For Thought – Best Brain Food for Programmers

It takes a lot of brain power to code, and as the brain takes up about 20% of the body’s calories, it’s super important to eat the right foods to stay energised and healthy! The Coding Lab team has assembled the best list of brain foods that you can eat to keep those brain cells active – check them out below. 🧠💪

Image of Brain Food: Eggs

1. Eggs

A breakfast staple for many, eggs are a good source of several nutrients (like vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and choline) tied to brain health! 

The egg yolks in eggs are rich in choline, which is an important micronutrient needed by our bodies to help regulate mood and memory. The B vitamins that eggs contain also help to slow down the progression of mental decline, synthesise brain chemicals and regulate the sugar levels in the brain. 

If coding’s on your to-do list for the day, make sure to start it right – with a sunny side up!

2. Dark chocolate

Flavonoids present in the cocoa in dark chocolate are powerful antioxidants with anti-inflammatory and immune system benefits. Antioxidants are able to help prevent oxidative stress, which contributes to age-related cognitive decline as they damage cells in the body. In short, antioxidants often go hand-in-hand with anti-aging.

Dark chocolate is also known to contain less sugar than other types of chocolate, and with the presence of polyphenols – which help to improve insulin sensitivity – they help to control our blood sugar levels.

Now that you know the goodness dark chocolate brings, don’t forget to set aside a few bars for your next coding session! 

Image of Brain Food: Dark Chocolate

Image of Brain Food: Fatty Fish

3. Fatty Fish

Fatty fish is abundant in Omega-3. The Omega-3 fatty acids are capable of building cell membranes in the body, like those in the eyes and the brain. Thus, they are able to improve our vision as well as the structure of our brain cells – known as neurons – which are vital in transmitting information between the brain and the rest of the nervous system. 

Read: 5 Tips to Better Eye Health

Foods rich in Omega-3s are also great for improving concentration and cognitive functioning, hence further enhancing your ability to process and think when coding!

Try out this recipe: Lemon Dijon Baked Salmon and Potatoes

Credit: AverieCooks

Ingredients:
• 8 medium sized (or 900 to 1130 grams of) russet potatoes, halved or quartered into 1-inch pieces
• 5 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 57 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• Four 170 grams skin on salmon fillets
• Fresh parsley (optional for garnishing)

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to ~220°C (425°F). Line a baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminium foil for easier cleanup and spray with cooking spray. Add the potatoes and evenly drizzle 3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Evenly season with salt and pepper and toss with your hands to combine and evenly coat. Bake for 15 minutes or until potatoes are about 75% done.
2. While the potatoes are baking, in a small microwavable bowl, heat up the butter for about 45 seconds. Add the lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and stir to combine; set aside. 
3. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and flip the potatoes to ensure even cooking. Add the salmon-fillets skin-down, evenly drizzle with the remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil and nestle the potatoes around the salmon.
4. Evenly drizzle about two-thirds of the lemon butter Dijon mixture over the salmon fillets. Evenly drizzle the remaining one-third over the potatoes.
5. Evenly season the salmon with salt and pepper, to taste.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the salmon and potatoes are done. The salmon should flake easily and the potatoes should be fork-tender. 
7. Garnish with parsley (optional) and serve immediately. Recipe is best fresh but will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.

4. Berries

Berries are delicious to snack on and they’re full of fibre, vitamins and minerals. They’ll definitely give your brain a boost of energy – set a bowl of good berries next to you on your next coding session and you’re set for a productive time.

Some berries that you can easily get from your nearest market are:
✓ Strawberries
✓ Blueberries
✓ Raspberries
✓ Cranberries
✓ Grapes

Image of Brain Food: Berries

Image of Brain Food: Whole Grains

5. Whole grains

Whole grains are good sources of vitamin E which has powerful antioxidant properties. As a fat-soluble antioxidant, it’s able to cross the blood-brain barrier and protect fats from oxidation, hence reducing oxidative stress on the brain! 

Some examples of whole grains include:
✓ Brown rice
✓ Oatmeal
✓ Whole-wheat bread
✓ Whole-wheat pasta
✓ Whole-wheat crackers

Got a few ripe bananas sitting on your kitchen counter? Whip ’em up into a loaf of delicious banana bread!

Try out this recipe: Easy Banana Bread

Credit: SimplyRecipes

Ingredients:
• 2 to 3 ripe bananas, peeled (about 160 to 192 grams mashed)
• 76 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 150 grams sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 204 grams of all-purpose flour

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F), and butter a 4×8-inch loaf pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.
3. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
4. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 175°C (350°F), or until a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Afterwards, remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely before slicing and serving.

6. Vegetables

Eat up those greens! Although different vegetables exert their effects on the brain through different mechanisms, they share the common trend of having antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective properties. An example would be cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and brussels sprouts that contain compounds which can prevent oxidative damage and fight cancer cells!

Do you have trouble getting your kids to eat those greens? We’ve got a trick up our sleeves for you. Check out this amazing cauliflower rice recipe below!

Image of cauliflower

Try out this recipe: Cauliflower Rice (Super easy!)

Credit: MinimalistBaker

Ingredients:
• Pine cauliflower

Instructions:
1. Wash and thoroughly dry cauliflower, then remove all the greens.
2. You can choose to either use a box grater or a food processor! If using a box grater, cut the cauliflower into large chunks and use the medium-sized holes of the box grater to grate into ‘rice’. If using a food processor, cut into small pieces and use the grater attachment to grate the cauliflower into ‘rice’.
3. Transfer to a clean paper towel and press to remove any moisture (that can make your dish soggy!)
4. You can enjoy your cauliflower rice cooked or raw! You can cook your cauliflower rice by sautéing in a pan over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Cover with a lid to make the cauliflower stems more tender! Cook for a total of 5-8 minutes and season as desired.
5. You can use cauliflower rice in recipes that call for rice – like fried rice! You can store the leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Uncooked cauliflower rice can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.

We hope that these foods will keep your minds sharp and more focused when coding! Make sure to include them in your shopping list for the next time you go to the market and don’t forget to share this with your friends and family! 😉

(Written by Zulaikha)

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5 Tips to Better Eye Health

5 Tips to Better Eye Health

The pandemic has remade the way our children learn – with regular home-based learning classes which result in increased screen time and heavier usage of electronic gadgets, it’s crucial that we take the necessary precautions to take care of their (and all you hard working mums and dads) eye health!

Coding Lab has gathered 5 tips (specially curated for you and your families 👀) to help keep our eyes safe and healthy in this period of time. Check them out below!

Our student using our monitors, which emit low blue light

1. Reduce blue light at night

Prolonged exposure to blue light emitted from digital devices has been found to damage retinal cells and disrupt the body’s natural sleep cycle, thus triggering eye fatigue and affecting sleep quality [1]. 

Did you know that Coding Lab has a specially-equipped classroom in Parkway Parade filled with monitors that emit low blue light energy? You can also do your part at home by keeping those devices away to reduce your blue light intake and getting sufficient rest in the evening!

2. Eat healthy foods

You are what you eat, and a healthy diet contributes to healthy vision. Choose foods that are rich in antioxidants such as your greens which act as a natural sunscreen for your eyes [2]! Fatty fish is also high in omega-3 fatty acids and will strengthen the part of the eye that is responsible for central vision [3]. 

For more healthy foods for your kids, we’ve got the best list right here – don’t worry, they’re foods that your kids will definitely not be able to resist!

Read: Food For Thought – Brain Food for Programmers

Image of Brain Food: Fatty Fish
Fatty fish is abundant in omega-3
Staying hydrated is the way to go!

3. Stay hydrated

Dry eyes are one of the most common types of eye problems [4]. When you lack adequate moisture, your eyes become dry and uncomfortable. Always stay hydrated by drinking 8 glasses of water daily for optimal eye health – before you know it, you’ll be running in full steam ahead! 

4. Maintain a good posture 

At Coding Lab, our adjustable chairs allow our students to sit upright and avoid slouching while looking at the screen. When using the computer, sit at least 50cm away from the screen, with shoulders relaxed and eyes looking straight ahead towards the screen. Rest your back against the chair and ensure that your feet are resting flat against the floor. Make sure to follow all the rules in the infographic right here – you wouldn’t want back pain or finger strain in your old age! 

Graphic of "Proper sitting and typing posture"
Image of 20-20-20 Rule

5. Follow the 20-20-20 Rule

It’s important to take a 20-second eye break every 20 minutes – by focusing on an object 20 feet away (approximately 6m). This rule provided by optometrists easily reminds us to relax our eyes for short intervals throughout the day [5].

At Coding Lab, we make sure that our students get regular eye breaks during class time because we know just how important eye rest is for our students!

Read: 3 Ways to be Your Child’s Cheerleader During Their Exams!

We hope that these five simple tips will help in bettering your eye health! Especially in these turbulent times, we hope you never lose sight of what truly matters – taking care of yourself!

(Edited by Zulaikha)

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3 Tips to Take On Your O Level Computing Examinations

Stressed about your upcoming O Level Computing papers? We’re right by your side in this final lap with analysis of past year papers, tips and guidance (and interactive questions to test your knowledge) straight from our Lead Educator Mona Tan, who conducts our O Level tuition programme.

Mona teaching Python
Our Lead Educator Mona imparting her knowledge to her student

As a subject that just began with 2017’s Secondary Three cohort, we know that there aren’t that many resources or information out there for you to tackle your Computing papers. Our team has therefore scoured the net (and much more – so you won’t have to) to compile this list of essential information to aid you in your Computing paper. With multiple subjects and other exams to manage, here’s how you can make the most of your time and be ready for the Computing exam on 2 November 2020! 

1. Know your papers!

As the old adage goes, “The man who is prepared has his battle half fought”. Do you know how the examination will happen and its detailed breakdown? Here’s your first question in our interactive quiz to test your knowledge!


There are ___ papers with a total duration of ___ hours.

Click the button below for the answer.

The answer is B.

There are two papers in the GCE O Level Computing examination.
Paper One is 2 hours, while Paper Two is 2 hours 30 minutes.

Knowing what material is covered in the syllabus and the format of the different papers is crucial. For example, Paper 1 is a written exam while Paper 2 is a practical exam taken with the use of a computer, spreadsheet and programming software.

Here’s what else you need to know about your papers – expand the buttons below to view more – you don’t want to miss out on the information we have below!

Click Here for Overall Breakdown of Papers

Taken from Singapore Examinations Assessment Board (SEAB) Examinations Centre

Based on the format of the papers, different sections of content with higher weightage can be prioritised during revision. Moreover, knowing the different components of each paper helps to aid in time management during the examinations, giving you more time to check through your answers.


What exactly are your papers testing you for?

Click the button below for the answer.

The answer is A, C and D.

The explanation is found below.

Overall, your knowledge and understanding are the most crucial components (40% overall), while the other two hold equal weightage (30% each) when it comes to the assessment objectives.

You can read the detailed breakdown of the assessment objectives from SEAB by clicking here (page 4).

Paper 1 Analysis

We’ve broken down the O Level papers from 2018 and 2019 to give you the detailed categories involved in Paper 1. In the table below, we’ve also arranged the categories in descending order based on its proportion of the paper. 

2018 vs 2019 Papers Breakdown by Category
2018 vs 2019 Paper 1s Breakdown by Category

Even though memory work takes up around 30% of Paper 1, it is essential that you understand what you’ve memorised so that you can put it into practice in the other components of your paper – remember, the huge chunk of more than 70% involves understanding and application of your knowledge! Ensure that you have a complete understanding of all your modules so that you are able to tackle ALL questions efficiently and maximise your score! 

Note: As there have only been two O Level papers, we do not encourage predicting the percentages of the next O Level papers. It’s essential that you fully understand what has been taught to be able to apply it throughout your papers!


Paper 2 Analysis

There are four tasks in Paper 2, which tested for the same things the past two years. Here’s the breakdown in the pie chart below.

Breakdown of Paper 2 - Pie Chart

While having knowledge and understanding are essential, the key thing is knowing how to apply it in Paper 2 when it comes to the development, testing and refinement. 


Did you know? One mark in Paper 1 is worth more than one mark in Paper 2.

We compare the equivalence of one mark in the different papers across various subjects. The breakdown in the table below is useful for Computing and your Math subjects too! 

O Level Computing Marks Comparison Table
O Level Computing Marks Comparison Table

One mark in Paper 1 is worth 0.875% while one mark in Paper 2 is 0.6%. These marks weigh more than that of A Math papers. Your Paper 1 marks are more valuable – losing between 5 and 6 marks could cause a grade difference – but Paper 2 marks are also as valuable – losing 8 to 9 marks could result in that grade difference too. 

Note: O Level papers are currently graded on a bell curve, so while grading in school has a 5-mark difference, this is not the case when it comes to O Level papers. Every mark is essential in scoring that A1!


The Rules of Flowcharting

Revise the rules involved when constructing the program flowcharts! 


What are the four common symbols in flowcharting?

Click the button below for the answer.

The answer is all of the above.

What are the other rules of constructing flowcharts? Read more here (on pages 32 and 33).

2. Revise and practice consistently

“Start early by breaking down content into manageable chunks,” Mona advises. “It is important to remember and assess your understanding of all the important concepts required for the paper.”

She also suggests getting familiar with the formula sheet attached in your O Level paper. You can find it here (pages 30 and 31).

With a formula sheet provided, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to remember what’s on it at all. Here’s the thing: you should know that formula sheet like the back of your hand – save precious exam time to ponder over questions instead. Leave the referring for emergency mind blocks! (Psst, this is the same for Mathematics.)

How do you remember your formula sheet?

There’s this thing called Retrieval Practice, which involves remembering information repeatedly – which results in it coming to mind more quickly in the future [1].

You can better remember it with these suggestions [1, 2]: 


    Space out your retrieval practice throughout your study sessions.

    Self-test and retest yourself repeatedly in the days or months leading up to your exam.

    Actively engage with your material, such as by making notes or doing questions that require applying what you’ve memorised.


Tracking Your Progress

Creating a detailed checklist with all the topics and sub-topics covered would help create a systematic method to track your progress during the last lap. You can even personalise your checklist, perhaps by breaking down the sub-modules, chapters and/or learning outcomes*.

*Note: certain learning outcomes in Module 2 are exempted in 2020’s O Levels

Don’t forget to place extra emphasis on Modules 1 and 4, since these are specifically assessed in Paper 2.

Keep track of your revision and practice sessions with our free A4 timetable that you can download here. Blocks of time can be made to ensure good exposure to both practical and theoretical concepts. You can also record the level of your understanding before and after studying each topic to track your progress.


Modules covered so far and Level of Understanding:

    Module 1. Data and Information


    Module 2. Systems and Communications*


    Module 3. Abstraction and Algorithms


    Module 4. Programming

We all know that practice makes perfect! However, practice questions are scarce when it comes to the O Level Computing papers. As this year is the third year of the O Level papers, the best option would be to request and rely on the resources from your teachers. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if needed! And practice, practice, practice… and more practice.

3. Analysing Questions

While understanding the content is important, knowing how to apply it is equally as – if not more – essential. Here at Coding Lab, we create the questions for our O Level Computing Tuition classes, drawing on the O Level paper questions and our extensive experience in Computing education. We also put together revision papers for Secondary 4 students to have mock papers under exam-like conditions.

Paper 1 is more theoretical and ‘easier to score’ in the sense that memorisation can ‘give’ you some marks, but Paper 2 is more of demonstrating your knowledge and honing your time management by practising under time constraints. Do you know how to effectively break questions down into more digestible and easy-to-tackle questions? 

Here’s how we would break down the thought process for this pseudocode question from 2018’s O Level Paper 1.

Question: A check digit for an 8-digit number is calculated by:

  • multiplying each digit by 3 or 1 alternately as shown in the following table
  • adding together the result of each multiplication
  • dividing the total by 10 which gives a remainder
  • subtracting the remainder from 10 to give the check digit, unless the remainder is 0.

If the remainder is zero (0), the check digit is 0.

The calculation of the check digit for the number 19483725 is:

Sample Question table

Write an algorithm, using pseudo-code or a flowchart, to generate a check digit using the method given in the question.

We begin with defining the problem and identifying different parts of our program to write the pseudocode. 
Input: 8-digit number
Output: Check digit
Process: Multiply each digit in the input, alternating between 3 and 1. 

Sum up the results of multiplication. Divide the total sum by 10 and find the remainder.
Check if remainder is 0. If yes, output 0.
Else to find the check digit, take the result of 10 – remainder

Step 1

We know the number has 8 digits. In this case, we will write a loop to ask the user for the 8 numbers separately and then store the digits into a list.

Sample code:
FOR Count = 0 to 7
    OUTPUT "Enter the next digit"
    INPUT Numbers[Count]
NEXT Count


Step 2

We need to multiply each digit in the input, alternating between 3 and 1. We can do this by using % to check if the list index is odd or even. We will use a variable named total to store our result.

Sample code:
FOR Count = 0 to 7
    IF Count % 2 == 0:
        Total = Total + Numbers[Count] * 3
    ELSE:
        Total = Total + Numbers[Count]
    ENDIF
NEXT Count


Step 3

We now divide the total sum by 10 and find the remainder. Once again, we can use %.

Sample code:
Remainder = Total % 10


Step 4

Check if remainder is 0. If yes, output 0.
Else to find the check digit, take the result of 10 – remainder

Sample code:
IF Remainder == 0:
    OUTPUT 0
ELSE:
    OUTPUT 10 - Remainder


Full sample code

FOR Count = 0 to 7
    OUTPUT "Enter the next digit"
    INPUT Numbers[Count]
NEXT Count
Total = 0
FOR Count = 0 to 7
    IF Count % 2 == 0:
        Total = Total + Numbers[Count] * 3
    ELSE:
        Total = Total + Numbers[Count]
    ENDIF
NEXT Count
Remainder = Total % 10
IF Remainder == 0:
    OUTPUT 0
ELSE:
    OUTPUT 10 - Remainder

That sums up our walkthrough of a sample O Level question. Pseudocode questions make up the majority of Paper 1, so understanding the steps to solve such questions is a key ingredient for that A1!

Bonus: Create a cheatsheet

It is undeniable that the Computing papers involve memory work. Hence, a common difficulty students face is remembering the fundamental blocks for the exam, such as logic gates, functions and formulae. Questions tend to ask a range of things, from identifying components and explaining what it does to the pros and cons.

The solution? Create a cheat sheet with all the functions and relevant information to create a personalised resource where the most important information is available at a glance. We get our Computing students to consolidate their learning via cheatsheets and instil the information through practising practical problems, which – as mentioned above – builds memory for programming in the process.

Your cheatsheet could be a black and white A4 one-page or you could use coloured pens and highlighters to facilitate your memory – it all depends on your preference and learning style!

It is normal to feel stressed and confused after practising various exercises. Although it is important to continuously practise, it is just as important to play hard as well.

“Sometimes when my codes don’t work, I would just do other things,” Mona laughs. “The solution will suddenly come to me out of nowhere, then I’ll go back and continue my codes.”

We would also suggest taking breaks throughout study sessions and not to forget having some time off, especially during this stressful period. Overall, it is important to achieve a balance between studying and taking breaks, while preparing for the examinations. This is especially so during these unprecedented times of the current Covid-19 pandemic. 

From all of us here at Coding Lab, we would like to wish everyone all the best for their upcoming examinations! 🙂

Taking the ‘O’ level Computing Paper this November 2020? Join our Bootcamps, where we share essential tips and tricks in achieving that A1 or get your burning questions answered by booking a semi-personalised consultation with us (Limited Slots available).

Click here to find out more about our O Level Computing tuition programme.

(Written by Cheryl Tang and Lakshmi Suresh)

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Congratulations to our 8 Olympiad Medallists!

Techtivities Of The Month (small header)

Fun Techtivities in October!

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Coding Lab Student Feature: Sarah Go on her Computer Engineering Scholarship at UT Austin

#CodingLabParenting: 3 Hacks to Maximise Your Child’s Busy Schedule – Be Your Child’s Cheerleader!

School examinations – an inevitable part of students’ lives. As yearly occurrences, these events see our kids and teens burying their heads in books and looking forward to their year-end activities.

We know that examinations play a major role in at least more than a decade of our students’ lives, and the Coding Lab Team stands with you in walking this journey hand in hand with them. We’ve collated some quick tips on how you can support your child’s physical and mental health to help them achieve their best. 🙂

1. Time Management Skills

Our mighty students showing their strength!
Our mighty students showing their strength!

As the examinations draw closer, it is tempting for many students to pull all-nighters in order to get in that extra bit of info. However at this stage, it is more important than ever for children to prioritise their sleep. We all know that it is recommended for them to get around 8 hours of sleep every night to make sure that they have enough energy for the next day [1]. But how do we go about it?

First Step: Teaching them how to organise their tasks with to-do lists and schedules. In picking up this very useful lifelong skill, they are gaining invaluable knowledge on time allocation and divide-and-conquer strategies, resulting in being more productive on a daily basis while still having leftover time to relax.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

– Maimonides

A glimpse of our printable weekly planner

Get started by downloading our Coding Lab A4 printable weekly planners (Yes, it’s FREE!) or click here for some beautiful templates we found online.

2. Watch Quick Bites Online

Image of Python Perfect class
A hybrid class in action (Online and Physical) – with students revising their work

Our students do need their rest, but we know that they’d like to squeeze in as much knowledge as they can each day. The solution – fitting in alternative forms of revision during breaks, especially in the midst of long hours of test papers and assessment books.

With the help of technology, learning and revision have never been easier! There are plenty of YouTube channels and websites that provide bite-sized tips online, regardless of the examinations you are studying for. Informative and colourful graphics allow students to recall concepts better as well. Fit one (or two!) videos in with your eyes closed, or during afternoon tea – some of our students’ favourites (hear it from the best) include Kurzgesagt and Khan Academy!

For the younger ones aged 4 to 12, Read: Top 10 shows/cartoons to teach children about STEM

Read: Tech Podcasts & TED Talks to get you psyched about tech

3. Trying a New Workout Together!

The benefits of exercise are diverse – from feeling more energetic to being productive at school or work [2]. Exercise helps release endorphins, chemicals in the brain that help alleviate stress accumulated throughout the day. Despite the COVID-19 situation, there are new home-based workouts available for the family by Get Active TV.

These workouts not only serve as a useful break away from the books but also help you bond with your child (or teen) throughout the session! (Bonus tip: You can even fit point 2 into this!)

4. Don’t Forget the Essential Eye Breaks

Our Young Computer Scientists taking an eye break on the bean bags
Our Young Computer Scientists taking an eye break on the bean bags at our Parkway Parade Campus

In the midst of all that studying, it is important for our children to remember to relax their eyes and hydrate regularly. This applies to you too! Here are some quick tips to help them, even when you’re away at work [3]:

  • Set reminders or alarms to take a break from near-work activities every 30-40 minutes and look at the trees outside for 5 minutes
  • An alternative eye break is to simply close your eyes to rest for a while
  • Sunlight has been shown to prevent or delay myopia, so spend at least 2 hours a day outdoors

We all play an important role in teaching our children to take better care of themselves throughout the year. Sometimes, even the smallest ways that we show our care towards them can mean a lot to them. Given the current pandemic, it is even more important to ensure that your children are well-prepared mentally and physically with the exams [4] around the corner!

The Coding Lab team would like to wish everyone taking their exams all the best! You’ve got this 🙂

(Written by Lakshmi Suresh and Cheryl Tang)

#CodingLabParenting Series: Towards Better Learning Header

#CodingLabParenting Series: Towards Better Learning

Header image for Podcasts/TED Talks blogpost

5 Tech Podcasts & TED Talks to get you psyched about tech

A 2 player Scratch game by Nelle, 9 years old, at our Art x Coding Camp

STEAM is the new STEM: How does this impact you and your children?

#CodingLabParenting: Tech Podcasts & TED Talks to get you psyched about tech (We’ve shortlisted the essential 5!)

We’ve rounded up the 5 most interesting and engaging (in our opinion, that is!) tech podcasts and TED Talks for you to embark on an auditory tech journey! Calling all our parents, students, and teens – we’ve made sure that there’s something for you to listen to, no matter who you are!

Whether you’re driving your little techie to school in the morning, taking a jog with your pals, or simply relaxing at home in between homework assignments, easily keep up to date with current advancements in science and technology. The best part? Bonding with your child over his favourite activity and maximising the use of your time. Learning has never been easier. ☺️

We’ve shared our favourite episode for each selection (and we hope you’ll like them too!)

Happy listening and stay safe!

1. CodeNewbie

(available on their website, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts) 

Image of CodeNewbie podcast

What it’s about: Stories from people on their coding journey. 

Code Newbie covers a diverse range of guests on their show – from web developers to UX designers, open source developers and many more! With the main target audience being beginners who are new to code, anything that’s very technical is explained simply. The podcast is not so much about how to code, but more about how to be a coder – it’s especially reassuring to newbie coders, with every episode reminding listeners that everyone has had to start at some point before progressing to success. 

Duration: ~30-50 minutes per episode 

Recommended episode: “How do you go from hackathons to building a hurricane relief business?” with Nick Feuer – This episode definitely brought back memories of our Young Coders Global Hackathon (YCGH) that took place earlier this year. It was truly a blast marvelling at all the brilliant ideas that our participants came up with!  

2. Learn to Code with Me

(available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or here) 

Image of Learn to Code with Me podcast

What it’s about: The podcast is hosted by Laurence Bradford, a self-taught techie who’s on a mission to help anyone who wants to teach themselves how to code. For each ‘Learn to Code with Me’ episode, she sits down for a chat with different amazing and inspiring individuals in tech. 

With captivating interviews and useful advice given in every episode, you’re sure to learn a lot about how to code as well as the basics of building your very own technology career! 

Duration: For Season 7: ~40-50 minutes per episode

Recommended episode: “Building a Robotics career and the impact of mentorship with Camille Eddy” – Having had internships with big companies like HP, Google and NASA, Camille is grateful to have been able to grow her career with the help of her mentors. We couldn’t agree more! An experienced individual by your side will help you grow to greater heights – just like our dedicated tutors at Coding Lab! 😉

3. Brains On! Science

(episodes available on Spotify or on their website)

Image of Brains On Science podcast

What it’s about: This award-winning science podcast from American Public Media is great for kids and curious adults! With its mission of encouraging kids’ natural curiosity and wonder using science and history, every episode has a different kid co-host who joins in to find answers to the fascinating questions they have about the world. 

With over 100 episodes to listen to, you’re in for hours of endless fun and learning! 

Duration: ~30 minutes per episode 

Recommended episode: “Why does green mean go? And other colour conundrums” – This episode explored the primary colours red, green and blue – and how you can mix them together to get all the colours of light! Our wonderful Young Computer Scientists learn about RGB in their class (BOT: Robotics) too, as well as other fascinating topics like Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)! 

4. TED Talks by brilliant kids and teens

(watch them here)

Image of TED Talks playlist

What it’s about: This awesome playlist features kids and teens under 20 conducting their own TED Talks about science, music and other relevant topics. Be awed by the young and bright speakers as they talk about what they’re most passionate about – you’re certainly never too small to dream big! 

Duration: Ranges from ~5-20 minutes per talk

Recommended episode: “A 12-year-old app developer” – We’re reminded of our very own app inventors and computer scientists who always have a whale of a time in our classes. It’s amazing to see the endless possibilities once you learn how to code! 

5. Tumble Science Podcast

(available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or here)

Image of Tumble Science podcast

What it’s about: The podcast has episodes exploring a multitude of fascinating topics like volcanic eruptions and the physics of basketball. Now in its 6th season, Tumble strives to foster the love of science into listeners by bringing science to life through interviews with scientists on their process and discoveries. 

Suitable for the entire family to listen to, everyone wins as they learn a thing or two about the wonders of science. 

Duration: ~10-20 minutes per episode 

Recommended episode: “Building a Robotic Eel” – This episode had us all fascinated on Envirobot, a robot that moves through the water like an eel and also has special sensors designed to seek out water pollution! It’s truly amazing to see how tech is put to good use – in this case, tech helps us understand our environment better and assist us in finding solutions to problems!

(Written by Zulaikha)

#CodingLabParenting Series: Towards Better Learning Header

#CodingLabParenting Series: Towards Better Learning

Image of kids for Top 10 STEM shows for kids blogpost

Top 10 shows/cartoons to teach children about STEM

A 2 player Scratch game by Nelle, 9 years old, at our Art x Coding Camp

STEAM is the new STEM: How does this impact you and your children?