mommy sounds insufferable
Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
61–70 of 91 posts
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#62I'm a big fan of Processing or p5.js for teaching kids that age how to write code. The immediate visual feedback from a line or two of code creates a positive feedback loop that encourages learning. Shiffman's book Learning Processing is a great gentle introduction: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Processing-Second-Programmin... His Nature of Code work -- simulating nature through code -- also is really interesting b…
Scratch from MIT is worth taking a look at. Really good fun and we use it in UK schools to teach the kids programming.
There is also Kodu from Microsoft (google it and take a look at the images and video) Kodu is ACE I love love love it. But it may be a little advanced for her.
And roll play games, D&D is tricky for most kids, but there is Hero Kids and Dungeon World (try some of the one shots) these are super geeky and fun and nerdy and min/max characters teach you a lot.
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#63Female role models will help. So, biographies and this: http://sheroesproject.com/ You might also look for resources on the social and emotional needs of gifted. Lots of bright kids wind up "shy." Having spent a bit of time involved in the gifted community and raised two bright kids, I think this is not mere coincidence and some of it is driven by the negative social fallout that tends to come with the territory when…
Specific role models that may be relevant: jeri Ellsworth, grace hopper, Hilary mason, Jessica Evans, Kira radinsky, Joanna rutkowska, Limor Fried (LadyAda). Just a random list off the top of my head.
* edit: added LadyAda
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#64Female role models will help. So, biographies and this: http://sheroesproject.com/ You might also look for resources on the social and emotional needs of gifted. Lots of bright kids wind up "shy." Having spent a bit of time involved in the gifted community and raised two bright kids, I think this is not mere coincidence and some of it is driven by the negative social fallout that tends to come with the territory when…
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Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#65Female role models will help. So, biographies and this: http://sheroesproject.com/ You might also look for resources on the social and emotional needs of gifted. Lots of bright kids wind up "shy." Having spent a bit of time involved in the gifted community and raised two bright kids, I think this is not mere coincidence and some of it is driven by the negative social fallout that tends to come with the territory when…
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Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#66I've taught many children, and the biggest motivation for them was tangible success. Project based learning combined with a good teacher will do absolute wonders. Eventually, she can show off her projects ( for example, a M & M color sorter) to her friends. Maybe her friends are interested too and that will give them a little encouragement to pursue their interests as well! Let me know if you have any other questions…
If one of my friends at age 12 had showed me an M & M color sorter I would have considered them god.
Your advice is good.
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#67I'm horrifically biased (I'm getting married to the author in a few months :)) but Adventures in Raspberry Pi seems to get great feedback https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Raspberry-Carrie-Anne-Phil... as well as Carrie Anne's Geek Gurl Diaries https://www.youtube.com/user/GeekGurlDiaries
Hope you have a great wedding!
I've heard that "Adventures in Raspberry Pi" is awesome, but I'd also maybe throw in some additional R-Pi based hackery (for music http://www.instructables.com/id/PiMiDi-A-Raspberry-Pi-Midi-B... is pretty cool, but it all depends on what she's into!)
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#68Female role models will help. So, biographies and this: http://sheroesproject.com/ You might also look for resources on the social and emotional needs of gifted. Lots of bright kids wind up "shy." Having spent a bit of time involved in the gifted community and raised two bright kids, I think this is not mere coincidence and some of it is driven by the negative social fallout that tends to come with the territory when…
Specific role models that may be relevant: jeri Ellsworth, grace hopper, Hilary mason, Jessica Evans, Kira radinsky, Joanna rutkowska, Limor Fried (LadyAda). Just a random list off the top of my head. * edit: added LadyAda
I read Amelia Earheart's bio when I was in sixth grade. It doesn't necessarily have to be women in tech per se, but it helps to be a woman not in the entertainment industry. Most of our wealthy, "successful" female role models are actresses and singers. Sex appeal is a large part of their career and how they make their money. This is very problematic if you want a business career. Looking sexy at work causes all kinds of problems in more conservative environments. I think a lot about the fact that women have basically two models for how to look successful: Pretty women who are often wives or entertainers where highlighting their femininity or sexuality is a big part of it, or trying to dress like a man. In America at least, we don't have a lot of good role models for what successful women in business or government look like.
I think about this a lot and I think this is a big source of problems for women trying to figure out how to make it in business (or government or something other than as entertainers or someone's wife).
Thanks for contributing your list.
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#69Depends a lot on their interests and experience. If she has little to no experience with coding, check out this as a start: http://code.org/ See the 'advanced' section of this handout for more coding resources for older kids: http://bit.ly/ortonacode On the hardware side, there are projects to make programmable jewelry, clothing, and other wearables, in addition to the traditional robots, cars, drones, etc. See the A…
>What I would NOT recommend is starting straight up with traditional coding that is not designed with beginners and kids in mind. Don't throw python, java, C, etc. at them. Let them follow their interests: games, wearables, etc., and learn coding in pursuit of that interest, not force them to learn coding for coding's sake. No, this isn't the best advice in my opinion. Don't decide for the kid what is for them or wha…
This.
I learned assembly and C at 12. It can be done, because I wanted to.
Re: Ask HN: 12 year old tech savvy girl – books, programs, events, advice?
#70Saying "tech" isn't much information. What do they want to do? If it's electronics, buy some starter kits, a good iron, and get them a book on electronics. (Maybe also show them some people like EEVBlog) If it's computer science, but some computers, get them an internet connection and let them have at it. Although I always say this: no one will learn unless they have a project they need to do. This is no matter the f…
+1 on eevblog. I started watching when I barely learned basic physics E&M and calculus, and now I'm confident that I can tackle all sorts of electronics all thanks to him. Though I was a highschooler back then and I had so much free time and watched 600+ videos in about 6 months, so not for everyone imo.
I'm in college so I'm using it to break from CS to EE. Far better then taking our schools EE classes since I can do it at my own pace and I learn things from someone who is currently practicing in the field (who seems to be quite good at it).