Like many parents, Teresa Hartsfield has spent the past few years grappling with an age-old (circa 2000) problem.
“It’s very frustrating as a parent to keep that healthy balance,” says Hartsfield, whose two young sons live in Durham. “I just don’t want you to play. [online games]so I always push them out and tell them to do other things, but at the same time, I know the importance of exposure to this kind of technology. I know it will become a part of your life.
Hartsfield, a franchise consultant with a background in entrepreneurship, is a growing franchise that offers programming and robotics curricula to elementary through high school students when he learns about Code Wiz.
According to Hartsfield, two-thirds of STEM jobs are in computer science, but coding is rarely taught to K-12 students. Code Wiz’s Durham chapter, which launched classes this week, will allow students aged 7 to her 17 to develop healthy relationships with technology while learning skills that will enhance their future college and career applications. .
To the delight of subscribers, Code Wiz includes familiar online games such as Roblox and Minecraft as part of its curriculum.
“Roblox has a toolkit that kids can automatically drag and drop into their world,” says Hartsfield. “At Code Wiz, we take a different approach by asking them to create all of this from scratch. We basically turn their playtime into productive learning and creative time.”
For kids who prefer technology over social hobbies like sports, Code Wiz can also provide a valuable social space.
“There are all these [memes] A gamer is in a dark room and comes out and says, ‘Where have you been? “As you know, they lose their days. Meanwhile, at Code Wiz, we build critical thinking, team building, and social skills.”
Code Wiz is offered as a monthly subscription, with coding courses priced at $195 and robotics courses available for an additional fee. In the future, Hartsfield would like to offer scholarships to low-income students. For now, the subscription is offered at a discount of 31.4159%.
Code Wiz, 7001 Fayetteville Road, South Durham, will be hosting an open house on Saturday, January 21st from 10am to 1pm.
