From: cyocum.myopenid.com

2011-09-15 10:01 am (UTC)

This would be great... Yes, I am rather frustrated that people tend to think of computers as "magic boxes" rather than the programmable things that they are. I wish we did more to teach programming to kids.



That said, I was once called a "fascist" by a computer scientist when I suggested that we spend the first two years of an undergrad humanities degree teaching these people how to code. From: pozorvlak

2011-09-15 11:24 pm (UTC)

Re: This would be great... I wouldn't go so far as to call you a fascist, but one should probably teach some humanities at some point in the first two years of a humanities degree :-) From: (Anonymous)

2011-09-16 03:28 pm (UTC)

Re: This would be great... Quite honestly it would be a great idea to teach some humanities to the nerd crowd also. Two years of that before programming might make better citizens. From: citizen428

2011-09-15 11:32 am (UTC)

I agree, that's why I created a website collecting info about various programming languages/environments specifically targetting kids:



http://www.happynerds.net/



Sorry for the plug, but this is a completely non-for profit project, so I figured it's ok. From: pozorvlak

2011-09-15 12:13 pm (UTC)

No problem at all! Your site's a great idea, and I'll do what I can to plug it. From: filecoreinuse

2011-09-15 12:16 pm (UTC)

I've added this site to here: http://elinux.org/RaspberryPiBoard/EducationalLinks From: citizen428

2011-09-15 12:35 pm (UTC)

Cool, thanks! From: 0olong

2011-09-18 02:49 pm (UTC)

I like it. Sorry not to see Processing on there, but I guess it's not specifically targetting kids... From: citizen428

2011-09-18 02:54 pm (UTC)

Processing is something I always was unsure about including, but I went ahead now and added it. "kids" is not exactly a strictly defined term and for teenagers Processing is cool. From: 0olong

2011-09-18 03:03 pm (UTC)

Nice one!



For what it's worth, I started out with 'the easily-programmable 8-bit micros that programmers of my generation cut their teeth on' - at around the age of 8 or 9 - and I'm pretty sure that Processing is at least as easy as ZX Spectrum BASIC, even if it is a lot more powerful! From: edtechdev

2011-09-15 11:34 am (UTC)

computational thinking Yeah many agree, and our national science foundation and others are making a big push for this, if you search for phrases like 'computational thinking' or programming for all. Here are some resources:



computational thinking:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cs.cmu.edu%2Fafs%2Fcs%2Fusr%2Fwing%2Fwww%2Fpublications%2FWing06.pdf



programming is the new literacy

http://www.edutopia.org/programming-the-new-literacy



Program or Be Programmed - Douglas Rushkoff

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-rushkoff/programming-literacy_b_745126.html



Tools for learning some basics of programming for kids:

Scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/

Light Bot http://armorgames.com/play/6061/light-bot-20

Kodu for xbox http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/



For older kids & undergraduates

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/html5

http://processingjs.org/

http://pixieengine.com/

http://www.playmycode.com/

http://www.greenfoot.org/

http://marshallbrain.com/kids-programming.htm



I would not recommend starting off with python or ruby or the like. Those were not designed with beginners or kids in mind. Even with older kids / high school students I would emphasize things that let them get productive / make something quickly, like some of the mobile app builder sites, or gamemaker and the like. The point is to let them see what you can do & accomplish with programming, not teach programming for programming's sake.

From: pozorvlak

2011-09-15 12:15 pm (UTC)

Re: computational thinking Good stuff, and thanks for the links!



[Minor point: IIRC, Python grew out of an earlier language called ABC, which was intended as a first programming language. But I agree that it's possible to do better.] (Deleted comment) From: (Anonymous)

2012-05-05 12:44 pm (UTC)

There is also ToonTalk (http://www.toontalk.com/), a videogame-style logic programming language suitable also for kindergarteners. From: eugene_bakin

2011-09-15 12:17 pm (UTC)

We are going to be there Saying that only a few people need to code today is like saying that only a few people needed to read and write in the 1500s².



Yeah. The next stage is when coding would be the distinction of a higher class. =) And then we should wait for mandatory coding education.



Fortunately this is going to happen much faster than in case with literacy. (Deleted comment) From: (Anonymous)

2011-09-15 02:47 pm (UTC)

Petition is for UK citizens only I'd like to see it open for the U.S. From: (Anonymous)

2011-09-16 08:26 am (UTC)

Re: Petition is for UK citizens only Perhaps start one for US citizens? It doesn't make much sense for you chaps to be voting on a UK poll when the US has the same issues. From: vlion

2011-09-15 02:55 pm (UTC)

I'm with you here. I don't want to be part of the high priesthood of the computer.



I want everyone to be able to easily deal with data and repetitive tasks.



Raspberry Pi looks like a lot of fun here. From: pingback_bot

2011-09-15 08:41 pm (UTC)

Interesting Links for 15-9-2011 andrewducker Userreferenced to your post from Interesting Links for 15-9-2011 saying: [...] Why we should teach our kids to code. An interesting argument. [...] From: pingback_bot

2011-09-15 09:34 pm (UTC)

Another literacy supergee Userreferenced to your post from Another literacy saying: [...] Kids should code. [...] From: (Anonymous)

2011-09-17 12:42 pm (UTC)

This will never work. If you let kids learn how to program computers some of them will love it and explore it further, others won't bother.

If you force them to (by marks/grades) most of them will hate and forget it after just a few weeks. From: stronae

2011-09-19 09:17 am (UTC)

I'm with you, most generally because as kids learn to code, they develop logical thinking that is sometimes hard to develop in other environments. And frankly, too many children are growing up idiots, at least in the States. :/ From: (Anonymous)

2011-09-19 09:22 am (UTC)

Petition fail I agree with your post. I think the wording in the petition is weak and uninspiring which might be why no-one has signed up. Perhaps you could help get that text edited



Miss Lake From: (Anonymous)

2012-05-05 12:40 pm (UTC)

There is also ToonTalk (http://www.toontalk.com/) (source code (http://code.google.com/p/toontalk)), a videogame-style logic programming language suitable also for kindergarteners. From: (Anonymous)

2012-06-05 02:14 am (UTC)

I obviously agree, and am working on a Scratch-inspired, web-native programming system for kids and other non-CS programmers: http://waterbearlang.com/ It's a drag-and-drop system of blocks that can wrap whatever language you like. We currently have wrappers for Java robotics, Arduino, and Javascript. From: (Anonymous)

2014-03-21 08:16 pm (UTC)

Hello! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be okay.

I'm undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts. From: pozorvlak

2014-03-21 09:21 pm (UTC)

Sure! I have the same username there.