Should kids learn to code?
theguardian.com
Should kids learn to code?
1–10 of 54 posts
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#2Yes, even if they're not going to become programmers, coding teaches people two important skills that I see lacking:
- The ability to break up large, seemingly daunting problems into smaller manageable chunks.
- The ability to shift perspectives from the 50,000 foot view, down to the individual line of code view, and then back up to the 50,000 foot view, and then back down again!
Variances in individuals abilities can be accounted for - jack might only be mentally capable of going to the line of code level, but I can see Mary is getting bored, so she can look at the interpreter source code - they should be encouraged to seek answers themselves.
I have a close friend who is the head master of a school here in the UK, and he is really keen to get kids coding, but there's no source materials for the teachers to learn, I think there's opportunity there for anyone who wants to pick it up :)
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#3It always sounds strange to hear a developer job is future proof. I'm a developer in Switzerland and my main impression of the market is that many jobs have left to cheaper places.
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#4Yes. It's almost like math or science or english at this point. They may go their entire life without using many of the more advanced concepts they learn in those subjects, but being aware of them is important.
In the same way, they might go their whole lives without doing any serious programming, but knowing that it's possible to automate a lot of little things they use on the computer and what they should look up if they ever get the urge could help empower theirs and others lives.
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#5Yes, even if they're not going to become programmers, coding teaches people two important skills that I see lacking: - The ability to break up large, seemingly daunting problems into smaller manageable chunks. - The ability to shift perspectives from the 50,000 foot view, down to the individual line of code view, and then back up to the 50,000 foot view, and then back down again! Variances in individuals abilities ca…
The ability to break up large, seemingly daunting problems into smaller manageable chunks.
This is an important one. We bought our first house 5 years ago and I've been busy completely renovating it. I often get asked how I dare take on such a big and daunting project with no prior DIY experience - the answer is, it's basically what I do for a living!
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#6Yes, even if they're not going to become programmers, coding teaches people two important skills that I see lacking: - The ability to break up large, seemingly daunting problems into smaller manageable chunks. - The ability to shift perspectives from the 50,000 foot view, down to the individual line of code view, and then back up to the 50,000 foot view, and then back down again! Variances in individuals abilities ca…
These are more "Software Architecture" skills, than programming skills.
Let's not teach kids higher-level organizational skills, but save those for later. For kids it is important that they can play, and fail often.
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#7It always sounds strange to hear a developer job is future proof. I'm a developer in Switzerland and my main impression of the market is that many jobs have left to cheaper places.
There will always be people willing to pay more for a better developer.
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#8Kids should learn problem solving skills. Math teachers of today are, unfortunately, quite different from those of yesterday. So, everyone believes they can do something more with programming.
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#9Yes, even if they're not going to become programmers, coding teaches people two important skills that I see lacking: - The ability to break up large, seemingly daunting problems into smaller manageable chunks. - The ability to shift perspectives from the 50,000 foot view, down to the individual line of code view, and then back up to the 50,000 foot view, and then back down again! Variances in individuals abilities ca…
These are more "Software Architecture" skills, than programming skills. Let's not teach kids higher-level organizational skills, but save those for later. For kids it is important that they can play, and fail often.
"can play and fail often" is the perfect description of software development
Re: Should kids learn to code?
#10Yes, even if they're not going to become programmers, coding teaches people two important skills that I see lacking: - The ability to break up large, seemingly daunting problems into smaller manageable chunks. - The ability to shift perspectives from the 50,000 foot view, down to the individual line of code view, and then back up to the 50,000 foot view, and then back down again! Variances in individuals abilities ca…
These are more "Software Architecture" skills, than programming skills. Let's not teach kids higher-level organizational skills, but save those for later. For kids it is important that they can play, and fail often.
I don't think there should be a difference, it's just a matter of scale.
When they start off coding, it might mean an entire week spent in a single python file:
The 50,000 foot view might be "Printing Restaurant Menu", the "line of code" view, might be getting the price of pizza.
We're not talking architecture, or operating systems, or networking, or boolean circuit logic, or anything, we're just printing their favourite food menu - a practical example of shifting perspectives.
Once they can shift easily, then we expand it in both directions - Now print menus for 10 restaurants. Now find the most expensive pizza.
I think these lessons can go hand in hand with Math -- too often the main complaint with Math is that it's too abstract (When am I ever going to use this?!) whereas if the Math lesson about averages tied into the coding lesson for printing the menu (Now find the average cost of all pizzas) kids might be able to see it as useful