Our proprietary curriculum is developed by industry and domain experts investing hundreds of hours in research and development to create the best technology program for your child.
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Coding & Tech Programs
Fall Schedule
L1: Fundamentals of Coding in MIT Scratch
Pre-requisite: None
Grades: 1st - 3rd
Fridays 5:30PM - 6:30PM
- Students will learn the foundations of game & animation programming with MIT-Scratch. They will create various projects to tackle coding concepts.
- A curriculum specifically designed for our youngest technology leaders to introduce
them to fundamentals of coding using MIT-Scratch. - Students learn the fundamentals of algorithmic thinking as they build multiple visual
games and applications using a very simple yet powerful tool. - They learn about loops, conditional statements and simple algorithms along with
creative design as they code many games and visual applications. - Students take their first steps into the world of coding in a fun and engaging
learning environment. - Simple debugging and problem solving.
L2: Intermediate Game Development in MIT Scratch
Pre-requisite: None
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Tuesday 6:40PM - 7:40PM
- Beginner friendly program where students start with basics and accelerate quickly into learning advanced programming algorithms with MIT Scratch.
- Students build multiple visual games and applications using a very simple yet powerful tool.
- They learn simple and nested loops, conditional statements, sequential and parallel processing of code and multiple algorithms along with creative design as they code many games and visual applications.
- While coding students learn many debugging techniques in their journey to become independent problem solvers.
- Students take their first steps into the world of coding in a fun and engaging learning environment.
L2: Intermediate Robotics with Lego Mindstorm
Pre-requisite: None
Grades: 3rd - 5th
Thursday 6:40PM - 7:40PM
- If your child is ready to take the exciting journey into the world of Robotics in an engaging environment of learning and fun like none other then this is the right class for your child.
- We feel it appropriate to warn that this class will be full of problem solving, experimentation, laughing, making new friends, asking questions.
- Our Robotics curriculum is built on many innovative programming strategies and equips students with the toolkit and confidence to program their way through any challenging robotics situation they may face.
- Students will integrate color sensors, distance sensors, touch sensors along with multiple motors to Code the Robots and solve challenges of galactic proportionst.
L3: Beginner / Intermediate Web Development
Pre-requisite: 6+ months of prior programming experience or Grades 5 and above
Min Grade: 4th+
Mondays 6:40 - 7:40PM
- Students will design and code fully functioning websites integrating photos, videos, user interaction, navigation to internal and external pages and much more.
- This is a unique program where students learn creative design strategies and coding in HTML plus rapid development tools to create their unique live website they can share with family and friends.
- This is a great first step for student towards building web interactive web applications & games.
- They can use their learning to build functional websites to consolidate their school study links, sports passions and hobbies.
L4: Game and Animation Development in JavaScript
Pre-requisite: 12 months of prior programming experience OR Grades 6 and higher
Min Grade: 5th+
Fridays 5:30PM - 6:30PM
- In a comfortable pace, students learn one of the most robust platforms used to design multiple interactive web based applications.
- Starting with the basics, the course will build a solid understanding of JavaScript as students start with mini projects and eventually build fully functional web based games and applications.
- Students learn about coding animations, simple and nested loops, simple and nested functions and much more.
L5: JAVA Fundamentals - Algorithms, Data Structures (High School Appropriate)
Pre-requisite: 24 months of prior programming experience OR Grades 9 and higher
Min Grade: 6th
Tuesdays 6:30PM - 8PM
- This unique program will start with the basics of JAVA and cover content of AP Computer Science courses of high school, but in much greater depth and breadth.
- Program pacing will be very comfortable for middle and high schoolers with prior exposure to coding.
- Students will learn the fundamentals of object oriented programming, algorithms, basic data structures and more as they take their first major leap into the world of computer science.
- Program flow (guideline):
- Fundamental data types
- Simple and nested loops
- Array manipulation
- Functions
- Simple classes and inheritance
- Simple algorithms
- Array lists
- Advanced nested loops
- Advanced functions including recursive functions
- Complex classes and inheritance
- Advanced data structures - Trees
- Advanced algorithms
- No prior experience with JAVA required, but students preferred to have at least 24 months of prior programming experience including exposure to a native language platform like JavaScript, C, C-Sharp etc or students have to be in Grades 9 or higher.
- This is the precursor to our course on Competitive Programming - USACO Bronze.
L6: Data Science Track: Data Science with Python - Fundamentals (High School appropriate)
Pre-requisite: 24 months of prior programming experience OR Grades 8 and higher
Min Grade: 6th
Saturdays 4 PM - 5:30 PM.
- Data Science is one of the hottest jobs family of this century and has application in every industry. Python is one of the most popular data analysis and visualization tools used by college students and industry professionals.
- This program is designed with a comfortable pace for middle and high school students to learn the Python platform in data analysis applications.
- Part of the year long data science course. This course will be followed by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Python.
- While not mandatory, Students would benefit most if they have at least 12 months of prior Coding experience in some native language (C, C#, C++, JavaScript, JAVA, etc)
- Learning Modules (students will get a comprehensive command over the following Python libraries):
- NumPy
- Pandas
- Matplotlib
L7: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Python
Pre-requisite: 24 months of prior programming experience OR Grades 8 and higher
Min Grade: 6th
Open Slot (time will be finalized based on group availability after registration)
- Python is one of the most popular data analysis and visualization tools used by college students and industry professionals.
- Program is designed with a comfortable pace for middle and high school students to learn the application of the Python platform in simple to intermediate Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
- Students will learn how to read structured and unstructured data into a Python platform, massaging and manipulating the data, and building statistical models for prediction.
- Students will build Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning models on Handwriting recognition, Image recognition, and more!!
- Ideal for students who have taken some coding classes prior and are ready to experience professional level Data Science platforms. Prior knowledge of the Python programming platform is required.
- Specific areas covered:
- Pre-modeling variable manipulations
- Linear & Logistic Regression
- Decision Trees
- Classification Algorithms
- Neural Networks
- Fully connected
- Convolutional
L8: Full Stack Web Development
Pre-requisite: 24 months of prior programming experience OR Grades 8 and higher
Min Grade: 6th
Open Slot (time will be finalized based on group availability after registration)
- Front end Development
- HTML: Elements, Page Layout, Document Object Model.
- CSS: Identifiers, Properties, Rules.
- Responsive web design.
- DevOps introduction: GitHub overview, Git command line interface.Bootstrap: Components, Utilities, the Grid.
- Front End / Scripting
- Bootstrap: Components, Utilities, the Grid.
- React.js: JSX, class components, functional components, styling, props, state, react data flow, Callback functions, react hooks, conditional rendering, react routing, lifecycles, state management libraries, advanced react hooks.
- Dev Ops
- GitHub branches and merging.
- Domain Hosting: Static Hosting, Heroku, and server hosting, Cloud hosting.
- MongoDB Atlas
- Scripting
- JavaScript Deep Dive.
- jQuery: DOM Manipulation, methods, dynamic elements, front end API consumption (Ajax).
- Scripting / Backend
- node.js: Node overview, process and parameters, node CLI, node package manager, synchronous, vs asynchronous patterns.
- Express.js: server creation, serving HTML, RESTful API creation, POST and GET, routing.
- Backend
- MongoDB: relational vs on-relational databases, data handling, ORMs, Mongoose, CRUD
- Software Development Methodologies
- Waterfall, Agile, Kanban, Agile
Coding Levels
The genesis of our curriculum and classroom methodology, stems from an objective of developing problem solving and creative thinking aptitude in our students.
Our goal is to instill in students the strategies and confidence to embrace any new technology platform and innovate by conceptualizing ideas, coding them and solving through problems as they emerge.
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1. Scratch 6:40 - 7:40PM |
||||||
| Level 3 6:40 - 7:40PM |
Level 5 6:40 - 8:10PM |
Level 2. Scratch 6:40 - 7:40PM |
Level 2. Robotics 6:40 - 7:40PM |
Level 4 5:30 - 6:30PM |
Level 6 4:00 - 5:30PM |
our approach
Learning HOW TO CODE is not hard at all for kids these days. In fact, if you are just looking for your child to learn to code, we would not advise you to spend money on any workshop or program. There are plenty of free resources available online that will teach your child some coding in less than a month.
Why then, you may ask, do we offer such a prolific technology program here at Thinking Feet?
At Thinking Feet, we do not believe in spoon feeding code - we do not simply tell students what to do. Many programs take that approach but then your child is essentially learning how to follow instructions in technology.
At Thinking Feet, we do hold their hands in the early learning stages but very soon we let our students lead the way through a unique classroom methodology that fosters brainstorming, creative thinking and Technology Leadership.
Our students learn to take risks & chances, and embrace failure along the way to learning and success. This has implications beyond just technology enrichment. This journey of coaching and development takes time, which is why our programs span 8 - 12 weeks per unit. To meet this objective, we develop our own curriculum...none of the available online curriculum (free or paid) come even close to what we offer.
What do our classrooms look like?
In our classrooms, you will find a lot of student participation, diverse sets of ideas and thoughts flying all across. Students will experiment, make mistakes and learn as they go through their coding journey. The energy is palpable.
Students learn as much if not more from each other's creative thoughts, as they do from the coach.
Pricing (per 4 weeks):
Levels 1 - 5: $135
Levels 6, 7 (90 mins): $200
Levels 8 (90 mins): $225
Thinking Feet’s main learning center is located in the Ballantyne area in Mecklenburg county. We are just minutes away from nearby Blakeney, Weddington, Marvin, Waxhaw, Pineville, Matthews, Wesley Chapel, Piper Glen and Fort Mill, SC.