Learning AI can mean three different things: using the tools well, building a model yourself, and judging whether a model's answer deserves trust. A primary child, a Gymnasium pupil and an adult in Oldenburg each start at a different one of those. This page explains the three layers, how our live classes in English take each age through them, what Niedersachsen schools now teach in Informatik, and a project on the Oldenburg lock where a program spots six strange years and a person has to work out why.
Teaching live online since 2020 · 10,000+ students worldwide · one mentor per learner, always in English
In short
Modern Age Coders offers coding and AI classes to Oldenburg learners of every age, live online in English: AI Literacy for Kids and Scratch for children, Python and Data Science for Teens, and Generative AI and machine-learning courses for adults. Each learner keeps one mentor, based in India, who matches their pace and accent, in a class of fifteen to twenty or one to one. Niedersachsen makes Informatik compulsory only in grades 9 and 10.
Three first courses
Where should an Oldenburg learner start with AI?
Each course starts at the layer that fits the age: understanding for children, building for teenagers, applying and judging for adults.
We split it into three layers. Most courses online teach only the first. Our classes reach the second and third, because that is where understanding starts.
Use
Knowing what a tool can and cannot do, asking it well, and checking what comes back. For adults this includes the chat assistants used at work. For children it means age-appropriate tools only, and never an adult account.
Build
Writing a small model yourself in Python: a program that learns from examples, a rule that flags strange values, a guess that improves with data. This is where coding and AI meet, and it is the heart of every course.
Judge
Deciding whether a result is right, and saying why. A model that flags a year as unusual has not explained anything yet. The judging layer is the one that makes a learner hard to fool, by a machine or a headline.
Where each age starts and what they make first (ours)
Age
Starting layer
A first piece of work
6 to 8
Build, with blocks
A Scratch game that changes when you press a key
8 to 12
Use and build
Sorting pictures by rules, then letting a program find the rule
13 to 15
Build
A Python program that reads a file and flags odd values
16 to 18
Build and judge
A small model tested on data it has never seen
Adults
Use, build and judge
An anomaly detector on real data, with every flag explained
A parent and a child can learn at the same time on different courses. Some families in Oldenburg book a group course for a child and a one-to-one course for an adult who wants to understand the AI tools arriving at work.
Lower Saxony schools
What do Oldenburg schools teach in Informatik?
Since 2024/25 every pupil in Niedersachsen has compulsory Informatik, but only in two school years. The figures below are from the Gesellschaft für Informatik and the KMK, read on 2 November 2026.
Grades 9 and 10
The Informatik-Monitor 2026/27 records that at all general school types in Niedersachsen, Informatik has been a compulsory subject in grades 9 and 10 since the 2024/25 school year. Before grade 9, there is no fixed Informatik lesson for every pupil.
That means an Oldenburg child can go from age 6 to about 14 without regular computing at school, the years in which coding habits are easiest to form.
In the Oberstufe
Niedersachsen's Gymnasium follows the nine-year route: grade 11 is the Einführungsphase and grades 12 and 13 the Qualifikationsphase. Informatik is a course a pupil can choose there.
Few do. On its national page the monitor names Niedersachsen, with Baden-Württemberg and Bremen, as the Länder where only about one Oberstufe pupil in twelve takes Informatik.
Informatik through an Oldenburg school career (rules for 2026/27)
Grades
Informatik
1 to 4, Grundschule
No compulsory lesson
Grades 5 to 8
No compulsory lesson
9 and 10
Compulsory at all general school types, since 2024/25
11 to 13, Oberstufe
A chosen course; about one pupil in twelve takes it
Sources: Gesellschaft für Informatik, Informatik-Monitor 2026/27, Niedersachsen page and national overview, read 2 November 2026. In 2026 the KMK also updated its framework Bildung in der digitalen Welt with AI-related competences. We have no connection with the Gesellschaft für Informatik, the KMK or the Niedersachsen ministry, and our classes run beside school; marks come only from the school.
Lower Saxony school holidays 2026/27 (KMK)
Holiday
Dates
Herbstferien
12 to 24 October 2026
Weihnachtsferien
23 December 2026 to 9 January 2027
Winterferien
1 and 2 February 2027
Osterferien
22 March to 3 April 2027
Single days
7 May and 18 May 2027
Sommerferien
8 July to 18 August 2027
Source: KMK, Ferienkalender 2026/27, Stand 9 October 2025. Lessons continue in the holidays for anyone who wants them.
Pupils who want to take an AI or coding project further can enter Jugend forscht, which runs for ages up to 21 and, as Jugend forscht junior, from grade 4 to age 14. Registration closes on 30 November each year, regional contests follow in February and the national final in May. We help with skills, never with writing a pupil's entry, and we are not connected to the organisers.
Live, in English
Why English, and how does a mentor in India teach a learner in Oldenburg?
All teaching is live and in English only. For many learners that is a second benefit, not a barrier.
Plainly English
We do not offer lessons in German. Families should know that before they book, so it is the first answer in the questions at the bottom of this page too.
Pace and accent
Mentors speak clearly and adjust: slower and simpler for an eight year old, technical and brisk for a software tester. They get used to each learner's accent within a few classes.
The language of AI
Almost every AI tool, library, paper and error message is written in English. A learner who studies AI in English reads the documentation of tomorrow's tools without translating.
Mentors teach from India over live video. A learner keeps the same mentor for the whole course, so the mentor knows which explanations worked last time and which project comes next.
A real Oldenburg project
Which years were strange at the Oldenburg lock? An anomaly detector, then a human
Stadt Oldenburg publishes how many ships passed its lock each year since 1987. Our teenagers and adults use it to build the simplest kind of anomaly detector, and to learn the most important rule about such systems: a flag is a question, not an answer.
The data
The dataset Schleuse Oldenburg seit 1987 lists, for each year, ships travelling up (Bergfahrt, coming from the Weser) and down (Talfahrt, heading to the Weser), how many were loaded, the cargo in tonnes, and a total. It is published by Stadt Oldenburg under the Datenlizenz Deutschland Namensnennung 2.0. We downloaded the file on 3 November 2026.
The city notes that there are no figures for 2019, so that row is empty. We keep the file as published and call it schleuse_oldenburg.csv.
The idea
An anomaly detector learns what normal looks like and flags whatever is far from it. Here, normal is the usual change in the number of ships from one year to the next. For each year we measure how many spreads it sits from the usual change: its z-score.
Anything more than 1.5 spreads away gets flagged. The same idea, with far more data, sits behind systems that flag unusual card payments or a sensor that suddenly reads too high.
Step 1: learn normal, flag the unusualPython
import csv
from statistics import mean, pstdev
ships = {}
with open("schleuse_oldenburg.csv", encoding="utf-8") as table:
for row in csv.reader(table, delimiter=";"):
if row[0].isdigit() and row[7] != "":
ships[int(row[0])] = int(row[7]) # column 8: ships in total
print("Years with data:", len(ships), "from", min(ships), "to", max(ships))
change = {}
for year in ships:
if year - 1 in ships:
change[year] = 100 * (ships[year] - ships[year - 1]) / ships[year - 1]
centre = mean(change.values())
spread = pstdev(change.values())
print("Typical yearly change:", round(centre, 1), "% spread:", round(spread, 1))
for year in sorted(change):
z = (change[year] - centre) / spread
if abs(z) > 1.5:
print("Unusual:", year, round(change[year], 1), "% z =", round(z, 1))
It prints Years with data: 38 from 1987 to 2025, Typical yearly change: -2.0 % spread: 8.7, then six flags, among them Unusual: 1988 11.5 % z = 1.5, Unusual: 1994 -17.1 % z = -1.7 and Unusual: 2025 13.3 % z = 1.8.
Ship numbers fell by about 2 percent a year on average, from 6,344 in 1987 to 2,671 in 2025. The detector flags 1988, 1994, 2003, 2010, 2024 and 2025. The program cannot say why any of them is unusual. That is the judging layer, and it belongs to the learner.
Step 2: look closely at one flagPython
with open("schleuse_oldenburg.csv", encoding="utf-8") as table:
for row in csv.reader(table, delimiter=";"):
if row[0] in ("1993", "1994", "1995"):
up, down, total = int(row[1]), int(row[4]), int(row[7])
print(row[0], "up", up, "+ down", down, "=", up + down, " total column:", total)
Run after Step 1. It prints 1993 up 3499 + down 3776 = 7275 total column: 7275, 1994 up 3757 + down 4039 = 7796 total column: 6033 and the same check for 1995, which agrees.
In 1993 and 1995 the ships going up and the ships going down add up exactly to the total. In 1994 they add up to 7,796, but the total column says 6,033. The file does not say which figure is right, so we do not either. What we can say is that the 1994 flag may come from the bookkeeping rather than the canal: measured with the two directions, 1994 would be a rise of about 7 percent, an ordinary year.
The six flagged years and what a person can find out (our calculation and reading)
Year
Change in ships
z-score
What we found
1988
+11.5 %
1.5
A rise after 1987; nothing odd in the file
1994
-17.1 %
-1.7
Up plus down does not match the total
2003
+14.0 %
1.8
A rise; the parts match
2010
-16.3 %
-1.6
A real drop: up and down both fell
2024
-15.8 %
-1.6
A real drop: up and down both fell
2025
+13.3 %
1.8
A recovery after 2024
Data: Stadt Oldenburg (Oldb), Schleuse Oldenburg seit 1987, licence Datenlizenz Deutschland Namensnennung 2.0, downloaded 3 November 2026. The z-scores, the 1.5 threshold and the checks are our own. A second, smaller mismatch exists in 2005, where the two directions add up to 18 ships more than the total. The cargo per ship rose from about 472 tonnes in 1987 to about 510 tonnes in 2025, also our calculation. We make no claim about the causes of any change.
Children, 9 to 12. Write the ships for six years on cards. Which card looks strange? Now explain how you decided. That explanation is your detector.
Teenagers. Change the threshold to 2 and then to 1. How many years are flagged each time, and which threshold would you choose for a real alarm?
Adults. Rebuild the detector on cargo in tonnes instead of ships. Do the same years stand out?
Everyone. Write one sentence on the difference between "unusual" and "wrong", using 1994 and 2010 as your two examples.
Times
When do classes run in Oldenburg time?
You choose. Afternoons and early evenings in Oldenburg fall in the Indian evening, and weekend mornings are midday there.
Sample Oldenburg times read on the mentor's clock
Oldenburg
India in winter (to 28 March 2027)
India in summer (from 28 March 2027)
14:45
19:15
18:15
15:15
19:45
18:45
Saturday 12:00
16:30
15:30
Sunday 14:00
18:30
17:30
The Einheitenzeitgesetz gives Germany MEZ, UTC+1, in winter and MESZ, UTC+2, in summer; the clocks went back on 25 October 2026 and will go forward on 28 March 2027. India is on UTC+5:30 all year, which makes the gap four and a half hours in winter and three and a half in summer. The table shows conversions only; there is no fixed batch time.
Learners in Bad Zwischenahn, Hude, Wardenburg or Delmenhorst join in the same way. The booking page lists every time in your own clock.
Progress
How does a learner in Oldenburg move through the layers?
Our own steps, used for planning and for reports.
From using to judging (ours)
Step
The learner can
1. Instruct
Write exact steps a computer follows
2. Program
Use loops, conditions and functions in Python
3. Read data
Load a real file and summarise it
4. Build
Make a model or detector that learns from data
5. Judge
Explain each result, and say when not to trust it
For parents
The lock project reaches step 5. A teenager who has looked behind the 1994 flag knows that a computer's alarm still needs a human explanation.
Reports describe what your child built and explained.
For learners
When a program flags something, your work has just started.
Check whether the parts add up before you believe the total.
More courses
Nine more coding and AI courses for Oldenburg
Live, in English, with a regular mentor; group or one to one.
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Fees
Fees for coding and AI classes in Oldenburg
The fee is per month and includes eight live classes. It is displayed in euro using the European Central Bank reference rate; we charge in US dollars, and your bank converts the payment, so what you see on your statement may differ by a small amount.
Students and parents in their own words, from Google.
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Parent
★★★★★
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Student
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"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."
Vansh Agarwal
Student
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Parent of Dhairya
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Sonu Goyal
Parent
★★★★★
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Parent
Questions from Oldenburg
Coding and AI classes in Oldenburg: your questions
Are the classes in German?
No. We teach only in English, and every class is live. Mentors are based in India, speak clearly, and adapt their pace and accent to each learner, whether that is a primary child or an adult who learnt English at school years ago.
What does learning AI involve in your classes?
Three layers: using AI tools sensibly, building small models in Python, and judging whether a result can be trusted. Children start with ideas and blocks, teenagers build, adults do all three.
Is Informatik compulsory in Oldenburg schools?
Since 2024/25, in grades 9 and 10 at all general school types in Niedersachsen, according to the Gesellschaft für Informatik. Before grade 9 there is no compulsory Informatik lesson, which is why many families start earlier with us.
When are classes in Oldenburg time?
Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Afternoons, early evenings and weekend mornings are the usual choices here.
Will my child use ChatGPT in class?
Not with an adult account. ChatGPT needs a parent's permission for anyone under 18 and Claude is for adults only, so our children's and teenage courses teach AI by building and explaining small models instead.
Can adults in Oldenburg learn AI from the beginning?
Yes. Adults with no coding start with Python and move to data and models; adults who already code can begin with the Generative AI or the AI and ML Masterclass. Many choose one to one.
Is the lock project real Oldenburg data?
Yes. It uses Schleuse Oldenburg seit 1987, published by Stadt Oldenburg under the Datenlizenz Deutschland Namensnennung 2.0 and downloaded on 3 November 2026. The detector, the threshold and the checks are ours.
Can you help with a Jugend forscht project?
We teach the skills a project needs, such as Python, data and testing, but the project and its write-up must be the pupil's own. Jugend forscht registration closes on 30 November.
How many learners are in a group?
Fifteen to twenty, grouped by age for children and by level for older learners. One to one is the alternative, with two private lessons a week.
How is the fee paid?
Monthly, in US dollars. The page shows the amount in euro at the European Central Bank reference rate, and your bank converts the dollar payment, so a small difference is possible. The first class is free.
In the first class the mentor sets a small problem, sees how the learner tackles it and how much English support helps, and then recommends a course and a group.
Live online classes with mentors in India, taught only in English. A WhatsApp message in English is the quickest way to reach us.
Want a class sooner? Book a priority demo
A priority demo is a full class of about 45 to 60 minutes. After the class the mentor sends a written skill report and a personal learning roadmap on WhatsApp. If you enrol, the demo fee is adjusted against your first month's fee. Share your demo Order ID with us on WhatsApp and we take it off.
