Give them LOGO (the language), teach them a bit of it, give access to the manuals / online help, and set them loose on it.
Stand back and see the fun :)
Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
91–100 of 116 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#92First explain to them that you don't "code." You "write code" or "program." :)
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#93Logo -- it helped me learn when I was younger. The best part is as it is visual, kids can see how what they type changes what happens on the screen. It gives them instant feedback in to learning how to give machines instructions. This software can be loaded on any laptop or other computer. It doesn't require any crazy hardware either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)
+1. Recommended Logo myself in this thread. And since it supports recursion, you can even draw Sierpinski triangles and such-like curves easily, and so introduce them to recursion.
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#94Fool-proof steps to produce a software developer: 1) Force them to learn how to navigate filesystems, the basics of file-based config, how to find and download files, and basic networking to make their video games work. 2) Give them little money, but a decent Internet connection, and make 3rd party private discussion forum solutions expensive, so they have to learn Linux and DNS and how to configure a webserver and a…
Have you made one single developer with it?
Because those steps would totaly turn me off.
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#95Codesters is a great way for beginners to start programming in Python. The drag-to-text toolkit let's kids get started right away and the text exposed in the editor allows and encourages them to start modifying and customizing the code. The platform is free to build and explore (www.codesters.com/project) or there are also structured coding lessons like the one here: https://www.codesters.com/curriculum/intro-to-codesters/Buil...
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#96Fool-proof steps to produce a software developer: 1) Force them to learn how to navigate filesystems, the basics of file-based config, how to find and download files, and basic networking to make their video games work. 2) Give them little money, but a decent Internet connection, and make 3rd party private discussion forum solutions expensive, so they have to learn Linux and DNS and how to configure a webserver and a…
Have you made one single developer with it? Because those steps would totaly turn me off.
It probably helps if you're in k-12 school at the time (loads of free time), Netflix hasn't been invented yet, it's still kind of possible to run out of crap to look at on the Web, and even though it's the mid-late nineties the only video game console in your house is an NES.
I doubt I'm even close to the only developer who ended up here because it was easy to end up in a computer-related learning loop just trying to get video games (or Encarta, or that Win98 upgrade, or your fancy new dial-up connection, or whatever) to work, there were fewer easy distractions at the time, and that skillset originally picked up while trying to play video games provided surprisingly easy entry into a career path that was both (much) easier and (way) better-paying than the things we might actually want to do with our lives. Hard to get off that track when you're in high school and already falling into (relatively, compared to your peers) high-paying jobs.
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#97I used to volenteer run a local branch of CodeClub in the UK - a supranational charity that produce their own courses based around Scratch, HTML / Javascript and Python. It was my first time doing anything like that and found that CodeClub were really supportive and had a heap of resources for us to use. Worth a look: https://www.codeclubworld.org
I have been volunteering at my local codeclub for about a year now. Loads of fun and they have a full online curriculum[0] full of resources that cover everything mentioned in the parent. They also recently partnered with the raspberry pi foundation so I am sure we will see more crossover in that space soon.
Code club is a volunteer lead international coding club, maybe see if you have any local clubs that you can support or if you can find some people that would be happy volunteering a couple of hours every week to run one at a local library (or similar).
All of the resources use web technologies, so they can learn python through a browser at a library computer without needing their own resources.
Another thing I have been part of is OMG Tech![1] which holds events every two months with the aim of exposing children to tech that they wouldn't have experienced otherwise. So imagine taking a bunch of kids from low decile schools and having fun with 3d printing, robotics, coding, science experiments and more. The theory being that a lot of kids don't go into tech because they just don't know about it, have never experienced or think it is just too hard. So just showing them that they can do this really cool stuff goes a long way.
[0] - http://projects.codeclubworld.org/ [1] - https://omgtech.co.nz/what-we-do-omgtech/
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#98Aframe.io + bunch of cardboards
Easy as HTML, with option of adding more complexity via javascript. Very rewarding from the start, children get into VR from the very beginning.
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#99Use only papers and pens
Re: Ask HN: How to best teach a group of children how to code?
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you made one single developer with it? Because those steps would totaly turn me off.
It probably helps if you're in k-12 school at the time (loads of free time), Netflix hasn't been invented yet, it's still kind of possible to run out of crap to look at on the Web, and even though it's the mid-late nineties the only video game console in your house is an NES. I doubt I'm even close to the only developer who ended up here because it was easy to end up in a computer-related learning loop just trying to…
You missed the point. The question is not "How can I teach ashark to code?", but "How can I teach $average_kid to code?"