Visual Coding: What is it and what are the different options?
Educators around the world agree that visual learning is often more beneficial than normal learning. This is true in case of coding too. Guiding aspiring young coders through encouraging words and step-by-step instructions is ideal, but to permanently engage them in the art of coding, one must be introduced to visual elements. Here’s everything else one needs to know about visual coding and how it can inspire young coders to perform better.
Different kinds of visual coding
As the name suggests, visual coding is nothing but the ability to code graphically or visually. It is usually done with the help of visual blocks as well as drag and drop methods, instead of texts like we see in normal coding.
Visual coding is beneficial for learning as it provides youngsters the opportunity to see a connection between a code block and the result it generates, i.e., they see their efforts almost come to life. Here is a low-down on different kinds of visual coding.
Lego Robotics
Engaging in visual coding with Lego Robotics like Lego Spike Prime is a popular choice for young coders nowadays. It implements drag and drop processes, in a way clearing the fundamental concepts for the young learners. Through this, kids can experience a blank workspace and gradually build programmes and codes “block by block”, where each block instructs the available robotic features to perform a specific action. They function the way they are conditioned. For example, they can be used to produce specific sounds, display pictures and even move about.
Sphero Bolt
Sphero Bolt is a programmable robot ball. As opposed to block-based coding, this offers two visual coding techniques, drawing along with code blocks. With the help of this ball, young coders draw paths, shapes and designs (all visual options) for the robots to follow and perform actions. This is done through the help of a drawing canvas, that the Sphero robots instantly pursue, as soon as the drawing is complete. The code blocking system, on the other hand, is a lot like Scratch that happens through sequencing of events.
Scratch
Scratch is the most popular visual coding option for beginners. Its interface has colourful blocks, fun and interactive projects that instantly attract young minds. The best part about Scratch is, it’s an active community where young coders can practise coding along with friends and peers. Visual activities like Scratch Sprites and Whack em where audio and visual modes are implemented, are absolute favourites with kids.
Engine Blueprints
This is suitable for older kids who have been coding for a while and are greatly interested in the fields of video gaming and game designing. It is a visual scripting programming language run by Unreal, the engine that supports Fortnite (another block-based coding system). Here, coding is performed through drag and drop modes as well as graphics production. Blueprints like Scratch help to create events, like switching lights on and off or opening or closing windows.