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Ellis Abel Learns.

Coding Summer Camp in Cedar Rapids, IA

The Cedar Rapids, IA metro area has about 279,285 residents, ranking 183rd in the country. Coding Summer Camp works the same way here as anywhere: give a child a problem too hard to guess at, then refuse to hand them the answer.

Ages 7-14 · For families · Iowa · Midwest

Coding Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Cedar Rapids, IA
Coding Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Cedar Rapids, IA

What the week actually is

Most coding camps teach syntax and lose the child by Wednesday. This one teaches the loop — write, run, it breaks, read the error, fix it — because that loop is what a programmer actually does and it is learnable at seven.

Day by day

  1. Logic on paper before a keyboard
  2. First program, first error message
  3. Read the error, fix the error
  4. Build something with a user who is not you
  5. Showcase: hand it to someone and watch

Cedar Rapids, IA — what applies locally

  • The Cedar Rapids, IA metro area has about 279,285 residents, ranking 183rd in the country.
  • Metro area: Cedar Rapids, IA
  • State: Iowa · Region: Midwest

Questions we get from Cedar Rapids, IA

Which language?
Block-based for the youngest, then Python. The language matters far less than whether the child will read an error message instead of panicking.
Screen time all week?
No. Roughly half the week is off-screen: planning on paper, tracing logic by hand, testing on each other.
Is it too late to start at 13?
No. Thirteen-year-olds move faster than anyone; what they need is a reason, not an earlier start.

Other camp themes in Cedar Rapids

Coding Camp elsewhere in Iowa

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