{"id":10102,"date":"2017-07-12T16:29:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T23:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/?p=10102"},"modified":"2023-10-27T03:04:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T10:04:26","slug":"how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69fc1102486c2\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #206be5;color:#206be5\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #206be5;color:#206be5\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-69fc1102486c2\"  aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#How_Coding_Develops_Focus_and_Organization\" >How Coding Develops Focus and Organization<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#Decreasing_Attention_Spans\" >Decreasing Attention Spans<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#Why_Organization_and_Focus_are_Key_to_Coding\" >Why Organization and Focus are Key to Coding<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#How_Learning_to_Code_Develops_Focus_and_Organization\" >How Learning to Code Develops Focus and Organization<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Coding_Develops_Focus_and_Organization\"><\/span>How Coding Develops Focus and Organization<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><em>Welcome to this series, where we\u2019ll explore the relationship between soft skills and coding! We\u2019ll look at the importance of soft skills in programming, as well as how learning to code can help kids develop these skills.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>So, what are soft skills anyway? A non-technical ability that nevertheless helps a person to succeed at work would be considered a soft skill \u2013 an easy way to define them is as important life skills. A popular notion in the business world, soft skills encompass qualities like leadership, communication, and perseverance. Although they may be difficult to measure, soft skills are vastly important for children to learn. As founder <\/em><em>and CEO <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-38758980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Krishna Vedati <\/a>told the BBC, \u201cOur goal is not to create programmers, but to offer coding as a life skill.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Focus and organization are key to, well, everything! In a world where it\u2019s increasingly difficult to focus, everyone could use a boost \u2013 especially kids. Coding is a great example of an activity that requires focus and organization, but more than that, it\u2019s a fantastic way to develop those skills.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Decreasing_Attention_Spans\"><\/span><strong>Decreasing Attention Spans<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s no secret that the distractions we all face impact our ability to focus, and kids are no exception to that. Between TV shows, smartphone games, and other distractions, there\u2019s a lot of opportunities for kids to lose focus. The instant gratification found in these activities can make it difficult to focus, which makes it difficult to stay organized.<\/p>\n<p>Alain, whose son <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/elisha-combines-his-hobbies-with-coding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elisha<\/a> uses Tynker, told us, \u201cYou speak to young kids nowadays and because of all this stimulus everywhere \u2013 billboards and movies and everything going on \u2013 the attention, the focus, just isn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_Organization_and_Focus_are_Key_to_Coding\"><\/span><strong>Why Organization and Focus are Key to Coding<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Organization goes hand in hand with focus, especially when it comes to writing complicated code. In order to think through code logically, it needs to be organized in an intuitive way, and vice versa. The more complicated the code, the more a programmer has to organize, incorporating elements like data structures to streamline the code.<\/p>\n<p>Santiago, Featured Maker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-is-learning-to-code-like-learning-a-new-language-ask-nico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nico\u2019s<\/a> dad, has a similar view of coding. \u201cTo me,&#8221; he said, &#8220;it\u2019s a way of organizing ideas, structural thinking, and logical thinking. It\u2019s challenging because kids are forced to think about how to solve a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Video game designer James Hague reiterated this idea on his <a href=\"http:\/\/prog21.dadgum.com\/177.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blog<\/a>, writing, \u201cTo a great extent the act of coding is one of organization.\u201d Focus and organization are key to writing good code, but can coding help develop these skills? Absolutely!<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Learning_to_Code_Develops_Focus_and_Organization\"><\/span><strong>How Learning to Code Develops Focus and Organization<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Programming can help establish the focus and organization it relies on, especially when working with a platform like Tynker. Kids are motivated to finish a project because it\u2019s exciting, so they push themselves to focus, organize, and make it happen! Featured Maker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/learn-why-anthony-thinks-every-kid-in-the-world-should-code\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Anthony<\/a> described this well during his interview, saying, \u201cI like to code because it is sometimes complex. It\u2019s like when you\u2019re working up a hill that has jewels at the top. It\u2019s hard to get up it, but when you get to the top you\u2019re really proud and you think it\u2019s awesome.\u201d The goal-oriented nature of an exciting project promotes focus and organization in kids.<\/p>\n<p>The logical nature of programming \u2013 identifying a problem, thinking through steps, and then implementing a solution \u2013 encourages sustained focus and organized thinking. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/0732118X84900187\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paper<\/a> written by Roy D. Pea and D.Midian Kurland argues that \u201cIn explicitly teaching the computer to do something, it is contended that you learn more about your own thinking.\u201d The focus and organization needed to solve a problem from start to finish can be difficult to maintain, but it isn\u2019t impossible to develop.<\/p>\n<p>As with any other activity, coding improves with practice \u2013 as do the skills accompanying it. Inside and outside the classroom, the focus and organization inherent to programming will help kids in any endeavor!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"sf-button large accent standard \" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/courses\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span class=\"text\">Explore Tynker Courses<\/span><\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Coding Develops Focus and Organization Welcome to this series, where we\u2019ll explore the relationship between soft skills and coding! We\u2019ll look at the importance of soft skills in programming, as well as how learning to code can help kids develop these skills. So, what are soft skills anyway? A non-technical ability that nevertheless helps a person to succeed at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,52,12,124,64],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-10102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coding-at-home","category-coding-at-school","category-ideas-and-tips","category-learn-to-code-resource","category-educator-newsletter","tag-coding-for-kids"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Coding Develops Focus and Organization - Tynker Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how coding can develop focus and organization skills in children and set them up for success in the future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization - Tynker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover how coding can develop focus and organization skills in children and set them up for success in the future.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tynker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Gotynker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-12T23:29:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-27T10:04:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-softskill-focus-blog.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"996\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tynker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gotynker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gotynker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tynker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization - Tynker Blog","description":"Discover how coding can develop focus and organization skills in children and set them up for success in the future.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization - Tynker Blog","og_description":"Discover how coding can develop focus and organization skills in children and set them up for success in the future.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/","og_site_name":"Tynker Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Gotynker\/","article_published_time":"2017-07-12T23:29:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-27T10:04:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":996,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-softskill-focus-blog.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tynker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gotynker","twitter_site":"@gotynker","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tynker","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/"},"author":{"name":"Tynker","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b63acd9ceebe78ea474bfcfbfdac7d57"},"headline":"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization","datePublished":"2017-07-12T23:29:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-27T10:04:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/"},"wordCount":698,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-softskill-focus-blog.png","keywords":["Coding for Kids"],"articleSection":["Coding at Home","Coding in the Classroom","Ideas and Tips","Resources for Learning to Code","Tynker Educator News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/","name":"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization - Tynker Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-softskill-focus-blog.png","datePublished":"2017-07-12T23:29:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-27T10:04:26+00:00","description":"Discover how coding can develop focus and organization skills in children and set them up for success in the future.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-softskill-focus-blog.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018-softskill-focus-blog.png","width":996,"height":450},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/how-coding-develops-focus-and-organization\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Coding for Kids","item":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How Coding Develops Focus and Organization"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/","name":"Tynker Blog","description":"Tynker makes it fun and easy to learn computer programming. Get started today with Tynker&#039;s easy-to-learn, visual programming courses designed for young learners in grades K-12.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Tynker - Coding for Kids","url":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20220713063303\/appicon-120.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20220713063303\/appicon-120.png","width":120,"height":120,"caption":"Tynker - Coding for Kids"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Gotynker\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gotynker","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tynkercoding\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/gotynker\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/tynker"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b63acd9ceebe78ea474bfcfbfdac7d57","name":"Tynker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e763a250a1fd5790919d1e588e78461c1f50971644d40baac7f6176d0a4ea007?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e763a250a1fd5790919d1e588e78461c1f50971644d40baac7f6176d0a4ea007?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tynker"},"description":"Tynker enables children to learn computer programming in a fun and imaginative way. More than 60 million kids worldwide have started learning to code using Tynker.","url":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/author\/tynker\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10102"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36729,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10102\/revisions\/36729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tynker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}