Learning Resources

Kodemango Offers Computational Thinking Curriculum

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 05/19/16

An Indian start-up wants to help middle and high school teachers add basic programming to their classes. Kodemango has developed a subscription-based curriculum that covers introductory and advanced Python, Java and JavaScript. The overall goal, said co-founder and CEO Vaibhav Aparimit, is to teach students "computational thinking."

For $5 per month per user, students get access to curriculum with lessons in coding, including a programming sandbox. Each course, noted Aparimit, is divided into units, and each unit is divided into "small lessons for easy comprehension." Each lesson includes a brief coding exercise that can be written and tested within the Kodemango environment. Each unit builds onto a project that involves building a product based on lessons in physics, chemistry, math or biology — such as a tic-tac-toe game that involves calculating the escape velocity of Mars. At the end of a unit, the student takes a test, which the system grades automatically and displays in a format that lets the student know what areas he or she needs to give more attention to.

Teachers gain access to student activities through a dashboard, where they can review results of the testing.

The platform also includes "collab," a feature that allows groups of students to work on coding together, akin to writing and editing a Google Doc. Forum features allow users to post questions and get answers from people within the company as well as other Kodemango subscribers and "techies working in marquee technology companies" that Kodemango has "roped in," added Aparimit.

The company said it expected to add additional lessons on C, C++, and Haskell and Erlang "functional programming languages" in the next few months. Eventually, it also expects to add a feature to enable one-click deployment of projects made on the platform to a Kodemango gallery.