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Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

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Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#81

Post by KON_Air »

adrianN wrote: post #50
KON_Air wrote: post #12

Linear programming on paper first, then linear programming by code. I have no idea how to do that one with kids, without being present (since I barely managed to do it with adults, while being present). Doing it on paper by hand first is more important then it sounds, so they can really understand a)what they are coding, b)how fricking awesome computers really are.

How do you teach linear programming with more than two dimensions to children who don't know linear algebra? Why would a child be interested in linear programming?

Exactly.

Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#83

Post by 20years »

mattferderer wrote: post #15

I've done this for several years. Here's what I've learned. TLDR: Focus on getting them to have fun & enjoy learning about 'code'. Don't care so much on how well they learn it. Every kid is unique & will respond to different things. Social & mentors are awesome. It's usually more fun to build with others if possible. Also they will want to easily share & show off their creations with others. Show them how to "hack" G…

This mimics my experience. I have ran summer coding workshops for 8 to 14 year olds and am currently teaching a coding elective to 11 to 14 year old kids at a local charter school. Each lessons starts off with a semi-completed program and guides them into how to change & modify that.

I have learned not to bore them with business apps or too much of the logistics to start. I start by getting them to code basic HTML/CSS. They get super excited by learning how to change colors and font sizes. Then we go into programming some simple JavaScript games. Later in the course, I bring in a Raspberry Pi and introduce them to that and a little Python.

You don't want to scare them away or overwhelm them at first. Keep it exciting and fun. At this age, let them hack.

Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#85

Post by ahakki »

e12e wrote: post #78
kevindeasis wrote: post #51

I'm teaching three of my younger siblings to code. It was one of the more meaningful things that I've ever done and was nothing short of hard. Here are the things I've learned teaching my siblings full stack development in a few months. You have to be patient, programming is complex and takes time. Sometimes you have to re-introduce the basics multiple times and hold their hand along the way as they try to connect th…

"ELI5 fashion?

Explain it Like I'm 5 (years old)

Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#87

Post by bicknergseng »

mattferderer wrote: post #15

I've done this for several years. Here's what I've learned. TLDR: Focus on getting them to have fun & enjoy learning about 'code'. Don't care so much on how well they learn it. Every kid is unique & will respond to different things. Social & mentors are awesome. It's usually more fun to build with others if possible. Also they will want to easily share & show off their creations with others. Show them how to "hack" G…

Glad someone beat me to it.

Teaching kids to code is similar to teaching just about anything else: get them to have fun and find how it applies to them, followed by how to figure out what they don't know, then how to keep going when things are frustrating and they want to give up.

More practically, the kids who are into games have probably already figured out how to write Minecraft mods or something, so introing them to something like Code Combat is a fairly natural next step. For kids into music, try http://sonic-pi.net. Sports? Maybe wade into statistics/data analysis and show em some moneyball or fantasy football. Lego Mindstorms-style stuff is awesome for just about everyone because of the tactile aspect, and moving from that to playing with simple electronics can be done with gentle happy path introductions.

Also be aware of where the falloffs will be. Lots of kids can change the color on a prebuilt object on Khan Academy, but going from changing a field to starting from scratch on a new idea is an incredible. Teaching debugging and figuring out how to solve something you haven't seen before is more important than anything else.

Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#88

Post by callmeed »

I've been teaching after school programs and community classes through our university for a couple years on and off.

I've been using the CS-First curriculum from Google. It uses Scratch as the programming environment (a visual environment from MIT).

Overall, I like the CS-First curriculum a lot–though some of the themes are better than others (some lean towards animation/storytelling and are light on actual programming topics). In my workshops I almost always inject some of my own lectures and exercises with the kids.

Biggest issue I've run into is with Scratch being Flash-based. I'm starting to see browser issues more often (especially in a tightly controlled university lab). This could be a big issue for you if you're teaching kids remotely.

One new thing I'm looking forward to trying with a class soon is Hopscotch. It's a scratch-like visual programming environment for iOS. I've tested it on my own kids and they love it. Plus they put out a ton of useful videos and tutorials.

Good luck

https://www.cs-first.com/en/home

https://scratch.mit.edu/

https://www.gethopscotch.com/

Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#89

Post by matthewhall »

mattferderer wrote: post #15

I've done this for several years. Here's what I've learned. TLDR: Focus on getting them to have fun & enjoy learning about 'code'. Don't care so much on how well they learn it. Every kid is unique & will respond to different things. Social & mentors are awesome. It's usually more fun to build with others if possible. Also they will want to easily share & show off their creations with others. Show them how to "hack" G…

Hack Google works for all my peers in high school. Or with the gradebook. Then I hit f5 and watch their smile fade away when they realize the 178%they just gave themselves in math won't stay

Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?

#90

Post by MrZongle2 »

mattferderer wrote: post #15

I've done this for several years. Here's what I've learned. TLDR: Focus on getting them to have fun & enjoy learning about 'code'. Don't care so much on how well they learn it. Every kid is unique & will respond to different things. Social & mentors are awesome. It's usually more fun to build with others if possible. Also they will want to easily share & show off their creations with others. Show them how to "hack" G…

"Give them simple partially completed programs that they can modify. ... Do NOT lecture to them or try to do long demos."

YES. I wish I could upvote this more. Curiosity is a powerful drive for learning, and when kids are allowed to pursue their own line of questioning and tinkering, the questions asked are more "personal" and the information learned IMO is more likely to be retained.

The "zero-entry pool" that Scratch provides is also important (how many kids want to spend a lot of time setting up their development environment?), but I think the tinkering is key. Kids who are simply content to tinker with what is provided will stay at that level; the ones who are truly interested in going beyond that stage will begin asking questions and driving beyond what has been provided.

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