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Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of everyday life—but most kids are only scratching the surface of how it actually works. In this episode of the Mothers of Boys Survival Guide Podcast, Suzy Shaw sits down with tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Tweedale to explore why teaching kids coding and computational thinking is no longer optional. From understanding how AI generates answers to recognizing its limitations, this conversation helps parents rethink what it means to raise kids in a tech-driven world.
Elizabeth shares how learning to code transforms kids from passive users into confident creators, giving them the tools to think critically, solve problems, and ask better questions. The discussion also reframes screen time, encouraging parents to lean into curiosity, collaboration, and even letting their kids take the lead as “tech mentors.” If you’ve ever wondered how to prepare your child for the future of AI, this episode offers practical insights and a powerful mindset shift.
Elizabeth Tweedale is a serial tech entrepreneur and the founder of Coco Coders, an educational company that teaches children ages 6 to 14 the foundations of coding, computational thinking, and AI problem-solving. With a unique background that blends computer science and architecture, Elizabeth has spent her career at the intersection of creativity and technology, helping others understand how coding powers innovation across industries.
As a mother of three and a global voice in education technology, Elizabeth is passionate about empowering children to become creators—not just consumers—of technology. Through her work, she equips kids with the skills to think logically, question intelligently, and confidently navigate a rapidly evolving digital world
The information provided in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Consult with a qualified professional for specific guidance.
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Suzy Shaw: Why Kids Should Learn Coding: Preparing Children to Understand AI and Build Technology
Welcome to the MOB, Mothers of Boys podcast. Artificial intelligence is suddenly everywhere. Our kids are using it for homework help, search, and entertainment. But very few actually understand how it works. And that raises an important question for parents. Are we raising kids who simply use technology or kids who understand how to build it?
My guest today believes that teaching children the foundations of coding and computational thinking is one of the best ways to prepare them for the world they’re growing up in. Elizabeth Tweedale is a serial tech entrepreneur and the founder of Coco Coders, an educational company that teaches children ages 6 to 14 the foundations of coding, computational thinking, and AI problem solving.
As both a mother of three and a global voice in education technology, Elizabeth is passionate about helping kids become creators of technology rather than passive users. Welcome, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: Thank you so much for having me, Suzy.
Suzy: So, Elizabeth, before we dive into all this, can you tell us a little bit about your journey and what led you to start and launch Coco Coders and focus on kids?
Elizabeth: Sure. Well, my background is a bit of a bridge between two worlds. I started my undergrad in computer science, but I’ve always been drawn to design.
So I went on to get my master’s in architecture. And when I got into the industry and worked for some of the world’s leading firms, I had a massive light bulb moment. I saw that even really in deeply creative, physical, professional worlds like architecture, that people who were truly leading that industry were the ones who understood computation and computational thinking.
So we weren’t just building architecture and drawing drawings. We were actually writing code to simulate how wind hits a skyscraper, or how light fills a room or how to redraw drawings based on geometry with slight changes that might come from the brief. It was the fundamental language of the modern world was this new way of taking the tools that we’ve developed in computer science and applying it to practical worlds.
So I really then started Coco Coders because of what I was seeing out there in industry and also having my own children. And I wanted to give them that same superpower that I saw in industry, the ability to use logic and coding, and an understanding of the technology that was being built in their lives to bring any creative vision to life or future world that they could create for themselves.
Suzy: And how old are your children?
Elizabeth: I have a 17-year-old son, a 15-year-old daughter, and a 7-year-old daughter. So two close together and then one that popped up later.
Suzy: I think many parents can relate to the feeling of feeling overwhelmed by technology. I know in my own personal life, I began in broadcast television 40 years ago. And when I started my career, everything was analog. And then it became digital. And then cell phones became a thing. And so the technology just seems to be growing faster and faster and evolving.
So why do you believe it’s so important for kids to learn, you know, the foundations of coding and computational thinking rather than just using the tools and the apps and devices that are available?
Elizabeth: Well, I like to think of it this way. Most kids today are really just players in a world that’s designed by someone else. So they’re playing the game, following the path laid out for them by the developers. But what we want to raise are modders, which I know, you know, on one of your previous podcasts, thinking about Minecraft and Roblox and how, you know, that whole gaming industry works with children.
So if you have boys that, you know, that the second they get home, they get into those games, they don’t just want to play, they want to change the world, create their own skins and break the rules. So when a child only knows how to use an app, they’re just the players. When they learn the foundations of coding, they get the chance and the kind of developer key to the world. They transition from just being those consumers of technology that we talk about, who are directed by the technology and where they should go and what levels they should pass and how they should use their apps, to being the creators who really define how that technology will serve them and serve their purpose.
Suzy: I call my boys Ernest and Exuberance in my book, and Ernest was my Lego kid, and he liked building things. And when we discovered Lego Mindstorm, when he was probably in middle school, you know, that had some really basic level of programming that was part of it, to make these little robots that would do things. And then that sort of led into, in high school, getting into robotics club. And that was just a breakthrough for him. Now he’s in IT and, you know, doing cybersecurity.
When you talk about the difference between being a consumer of technology to a creator, you know, what do you think that shift looks like for kids? And, you know, is that the Lego Mindstorm sort of branch or, you know, what does that look like?
Elizabeth: I think that’s a perfect example of a tool that can help facilitate that. But really, what it looks like is the shift from moving from how do I use this to how do I direct this? So finding toys, applications and processes that kids can interact with and experience that.
I like to think that in this kind of AI era, we’re seeing a huge shift towards prompt engineering and sort of system oversight, which I know you talked about previously in your cybersecurity podcast. So to be a creator now, you have to really understand how AI is trained or how it’s built underneath the scene is essentially a giant pattern recognition machine fed on human data.
So if a kid can understand that AI is just predicting the next likely word or pixel, you know, like when you’re typing your text in your iMessage, based on what they’re taught, they become much better at prompting it and also understanding where they’re going to lead it. They can learn that the quality of the output depends entirely on the clarity of their logic. So it matters because the sort of creators of the future won’t be the ones who can type the fastest. They’ll be the ones who can architect the best instructions and recognize when the AI has its hallucinations or goes off-piste, if you will.
Suzy: Right. And it does go off track. And I always think it’s funny the way it apologizes, you know, it’s like, oh, you’re right. Yes. My bad. Which, (yes, I’m so sorry.)
Which then gets back to, you know, how did you ask the question? I mean, that’s, I think that’s sort of your point is the prompt, learning how to better manage the AI and the systems, you know, you get a better result, correct?
Elizabeth: Yes, absolutely. Exactly. I think, you know, it comes back around to computational thinking and how we actually build that up. And you brought up Lego Mindstorms as a perfect example.
So if we think about computational thinking, even just going to the non-programmable Lego, it’s that exact same tool set. So you can give two kids the exact same box of a thousand Legos. One might build a castle, and the other might build a spaceship. The bricks haven’t changed, but the logic of the assembly has changed. So that computational thinking piece is just that. It’s the mental framework for how you snap ideas together to solve problems and how you use your own intuition with preconceived structure to create something that you like.
Suzy: Well, and I guess, you know, that’s how your children begin to learn with this computational thinking. What does that look like in one of your classes?
Elizabeth: Well, I think in our classes, we have sort of four-week modules. And at the end of four weeks, each one has a different theme that relates to real-world applications like aerospace engineering or vertical farming or, you know, things like that.
In weeks three and week four, there’s specific challenges to add to the projects that they’ve created in weeks one and two. And those are broken up into small challenges, medium and big, but they’re given to the kids, and they’re not always the same answer to get to the solution.
So one of the examples that I like to use to explain computational thinking and sort of the difference between how we think about solving a problem in computer science versus math, you know, you have an algebraic equation in math, and there’s a very specific set of steps that you have to go through in order to solve the problem.
But in computer science, you might have a test question that says, “Draw five stick people in a row.” And so one child could draw five circles spaced out and then five little bodies, five little legs, five little arms. The next child could finish the exact same assignment but draw one little stick person, then the next one, then the next one, then the next one, then the next one, solving the exact same problem but using different ways to put the building blocks together in order to do it.
So I think that’s kind of the essence of computational thinking and how we can demystify it for parents.
Suzy: So we recently shared a podcast on raising cyber-smart kids in the age of AI. You mentioned that earlier, and tips for parents. And we have a resource page as well. And we have a resource page as well. And we’ll add this podcast and anything else that you think would be relevant for parents to that resource page.
This AI programming, computational thinking, helping kids understand it, building systems, it seems to me that it would impact almost not everything, but a good portion of their life. So if you understand better how to ask a question in this framework, you’re going to get a better response even out of Google or out of the library or ChatGPT or whatever the AI is that you’re… Right? Is that correct? Is that where you think the superpower of this is?
Elizabeth: Yes, that’s exactly it. I think understanding the foundations of AI and the systems that they’re built on for kids really just pulls back the curtain on the magic. You know, it seems like magic. You put something in, and you get out this answer.
But when kids can understand how the code is built, they realize that AI isn’t an all-knowing spirit out there in the ethos. It’s a system built by humans using large language models. So all of the things that we’ve put out there on the internet or all of the documents that we’ve fed it to understand how we think, what we know, and what we’ve said in the past.
So they learn that AI is essentially trained on these massive data sets, which means it carries all those biases and errors of the information it was given. So if it’s trained on Reddit versus Wikipedia versus published white papers that have been peer reviewed by doctorates, it’s going to have different training mechanisms behind it.
So it’s not an oracle to be followed blindly. It really makes the technology less vague and less intimidating. And they start to see it as a very fast, very powerful intern that they still need a smart human boss to check in with, but they can also start to question where the information is coming from and how seriously they should take it.
Suzy: Right. Yeah, that’s really fascinating, relevant. And I experience this all the time. And I think it’s fabulous that you’re teaching kids this, and especially the limitations of AI. I believe we call it quirks. So why is that an important skill for this generation to understand where it’s going and how it’s improving, and it’s, you know, quirks?
Elizabeth: I think we kind of touched on this before, but because AI hallucinates, it makes mistakes that look incredibly accurate or plausible. And then, like you said, you say, well, that doesn’t really seem right. And you’re like, oh yes, I’m so sorry. You’re so right. Actually, here’s your right answer.
But if a child doesn’t understand those underlying logic, they’ll really fall for a perfect looking misinformation. So an essay that looks like it’s structured, right? It has the right amount of paragraphs. It has the right amount of sentences. It ticks off the points, but they can’t recognize those quirks. That’s really the kind of high-level critical thinking skill that we’re trying to impart to their learning journey.
And I like to say it’s sort of the difference between being a passenger who doesn’t notice the car is off course, you know, say what it’s self-driving itself, to being the navigator who sees the error in the map and is like, oh, actually, no, we don’t want to turn that way. You should be going this way, and you take back over the reins, and be pointed in the right direction. So what we really want is our children to have that human in the loop mindset. So they are still skeptical, and they add that creative layer that makes the AI output actually useful and safe and revisit its own thinking process or thinking patterns because it tends to go down one journey. And the answer might’ve been over there, but because it already was shaking out the skittles into the different colors and the yellow one already went to the cool colors, there’s no way to get back to the warm colors, right? So just keeping an eye on it as it goes and using those critical thinking skills is number one important piece here.
Suzy: Well, and as kids grow up and they move into careers, there’s real cause and effect that happens.
I recently talked with a lawyer who told me of a case where somebody was trying to validate to the court, these are the reasons that what I’m suggesting is correct, and the AI made up and totally hallucinated cases that were not real but fit the criteria. And then the judge…
Elizabeth: If there was a case like this, it would be a great example for your…
Suzy: Would that have been a great example! Yes. And they got dinged on their bar and fined for using cases that didn’t exist as part of their argument. And I just think that’s a really interesting example of how hallucination turns into actual fines and money and can impact your career.
Elizabeth: It’s something that looks real and believable.
Suzy: Right. So many moms, and you this because we’re sort of the tech moms probably in our friend group, but I think many moms are nervous about technology in their house and feel a little bit of pressure to be the expert and worry about screen time and how much their kids and their family is on the screen and that that seems to be their primary focus of limiting the amount of time that somebody’s looking at the phone or the computer or the television or whatever the device is.
So you’ve now suggested there are real benefits from parents understanding that. And in a couple of other podcasts, we’ve talked about this curiosity, especially as your kids become teenagers. And so how can that shift, asking our sons and kids to mentor us, really and having that curiosity, how can that open the door to better conversations, understanding and relationships with our kids?
Elizabeth: I think that’s a great question because we all grew up, even plus or minus a few decades, depending on how old your boys are, but with parents that were still pretty much the experts in whatever they were trying to pass on to us as children. And now that rug has been completely pulled from underneath our feet. So the anxiety is definitely there, and even just navigating screen time usage, which isn’t necessarily a thing that should have a rigorous rule for all the kids, is always the same all of the time. One child might be five minutes a day, one child might have unlimited resources, and the app usage might be different in terms of what they’re allowed to do.
But one of the things that I think you brought up is that word of mentorship. I think that is definitely the great lever that we have at this moment in time, because for the first time that expert in the room is often just as confused as the student because the tools are literally changing every day. So even we, as the tech moms in our mom groups, are still confused. So we’re right there with you.
But by asking your sons to mentor you, you can then sort of shift that dynamic, and you’re essentially modeling intellectual humility, which they can then take forward into the universe. So you’re showing him that it’s okay to be a successful beginner and ask questions. It removes that hierarchy fear that we mostly all were probably parented on and replaces it with more of a partnership of curiosity, as you said.
So when you have your kids on screen time, if they’re on TikTok or watching YouTube videos about something, playing Roblox, Minecraft, even just asking to be a participant in that learning journey will go a long way because when your child, when he explains, say, the game mechanic or an AI prompt to you that he’s asking help with for his homework, he’s actually reinforcing his own logical thinking by just reteaching his thought process back to you.
So I feel like it’s a real opportunity for us to shift that screen time from that passive activity, even if they’re actively playing a game, it’s still, you know, following that ruleset that the developers have set them on the path towards into a collaborative bridge between the two of you. And so you don’t have to go into the situation having any of the answers or even knowing if you’re saying TikTik or TikTok or the Toky Tik, I don’t even know, you know, but you just need to be that lead investigator in their screen time journey and getting over that anxiety piece, which is the I need to know what I’m talking about to I’m happy to not know, can you show me? (Right.) And shifting the dynamic that way is I think a huge opportunity for us. But we’ve had very few, you know, past mentors show us how to do it in terms of society.
Suzy: I totally agree. And it sort of reminds me when I when I first got into broadcast television was interviewing people and little kids, one of my first projects was interviewing kindergartners. And I couldn’t get anyone to say a sentence, you know, they would just give me these one-word answers. And so, yes, no, you know, who’s your favorite character, Big Bird, whatever.
So I asked my mom, who was a kindergarten teacher, I said, how do you get how do you get little kids to talk with you? And she says, I pretend to be either deaf or dumb. So I’m like, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. Could you explain that to me again? Or I didn’t get it. And then they come full force in and want to explain it to you. And it’s part of this power shift, I think, and curiosity.
Elizabeth: This is so funny, because that happens in our household, will be, you know, the girls might be eating dinner, and I’ll say, Oh, Rose, I only have seven of these left, but we have 10 days that we needed to last for how many more do I need? And then my son or my husband will be like three. And I’m like, obviously, I know that, but I’m trying to work on the simple math over here.
Suzy: Right. Well, and when you’re dealing with teenagers, it’s really, it’s even harder. But yeah, “joyful curiosity” is what one of our teenage experts called it.
So if there’s one mind shift you would love parents to make as they raise kids in this era of AI and rapidly changing technology, you know, what would it be?
Elizabeth: That’s a great question. I think there are so many things. Maybe it’s just stop trying to cheat-proof your child’s life and start thought-proofing their brain. So don’t fear the tools that are popping up every day, but teach them to approach the tools with a mindset of mastering the logic and the asking of the questions behind where that piece of information or new app or new piece of technology is coming from.
I think if we focus on teaching them to be the ones that are holding those architectural blueprints and architecting with intention, no matter how much the technology shifts and changes, they’ll never become obsolete. They’ll be the ones that will be asking the questions and then on top of it, building the future. So yeah.
Suzy: I love that. Adaptable.
Elizabeth: Yes, exactly.
Suzy: You know, it occurs to me just even understanding the possibility is so powerful. You know, recently there was, I have a spreadsheet, and I was thinking this would be really cool as an app or put on a web page. And so I asked someone in my network who does that sort of thing. And they were like, well, if it’s a spreadsheet, you should just throw it into you know, AI and ask it to create a page. And I was blown away by just even the thought of that. Like that just hadn’t ever occurred to me to use the tool in that way. So, you know, the understanding of how to use the tool is so critical.
Elizabeth: Yeah. And I think that is a great example as to maybe the kind of false sense of security that is descending on us as parents, and maybe, you know, broader society is that those tools are super powerful. They exist, but it will only get you to 80% of the way there, 90% of the way there. And then there are little errors. Like, you know, it was telling you to always put in 30 centiliters of liquid instead of milliliters or wasn’t converting things right.
And I kid you not, that last 10 or 20% of getting the AI to tweak itself to make that new app that you’ve just thrown in to Grok or Chad GBT or Gemini is extremely difficult if you don’t have those foundational tools and understanding to then look under the hood and say, this is where it needs to change.
Suzy: So I ask all of our guests to give us a quote for moms who are trying to figure all this out, this coding, AI technology. What do you say to yourself or the parents of your students?
Elizabeth: Well, I always like to go back to my grandmother, Rose’s family motto, which has been passed down for generations and still seems to be relevant, which is, “Do your best and let them say.”
I think it’s so relevant for us as parents today. We are under so much pressure to be perfect parents in an age of AI and social media, and all of the judgment that comes with those tools. But in technology, as in life, there’s no perfect version 1.0. You do your best, you iterate, you keep your integrity along the way, and you let the critics and the “they” out there say what they want. If we can teach our boys and all of our children that same resilience to focus on the quality of their work and their logic rather than the noise of the world, I think they’re going to be just fine.
Suzy: I really, really love that. Thank you and resilience. Love that word. Right? Isn’t that what we hope for all of us?
Elizabeth: Exactly. We’re all still trying to keep that intact and approach it every day.
Suzy: So, Elizabeth, if anyone wants to reach out to Coca Coders, can you give us the URL or where we can go for more information? Yep. It’s just cococoders.com. They give it like Coco Chanel, but cococoders.com. And love to have your son try a free lesson and join one of our courses.
Suzy: Fabulous. And we’ll include that on the MothersofBoys.Life website with the show notes of all of this podcast. And thank you very much for joining us.
Elizabeth: Thank you so much for having me, Suzy. It’s been so fun. It’s such a great chat.
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