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December 4, 2014

Google Uses Holiday Cheer To Teach Kids To Code

12.4

In an admirable mission to educate the world about multicultural holiday season traditions as well as coding fundamentals, Google unveiled its Santa Tracker, a multi-faceted game and learning tool this past Monday. Like an advent calendar with activities instead of candy or gifts, Google is revealing a new feature each day from now until Christmas. These features will range from short games all the way to brief lessons on JavaScript.

As Google explains on its website,

On Christmas Eve we’ll be proudly showcasing a Santa’s dashboard, the technology that powers his sleigh during his around-the-world journey. We’ve received this special preview from one of Santa’s many developer elves, who are hard at work in the North Pole helping Santa prepare for his big day. Santa’s dashboard – featuring the latest and greatest in Google Maps technology and sleigh engineering – will allow you to follow his progress around the world, and also learn a little about some of his stops along the way.

Another big piece of Google’s Santa Tracker tool is educating people about Christmas traditions around the world, using an interactive map. Google even offers free lesson plans aligned with the Common Core for download.

Google knows what it’s doing: The clever combination of gamification and education fundamentals is unbeatable! Although allegedly meant for kids, we know a good chunk of adults will be gearing up for the holidays with this awesome Google feature.