Code.org – Dedicated to growing computer programming education

You really should look at http://codehs.com

We don't force feed anything, and everything is motivated because it's fun. We teach problem solving through coding, but it's really simple at the beginning, so you don't get intimidated.

It's motivated by teaching you that programming a computer is like teaching a dog how to do tricks, which kids can identify with.

Seriously, actually try out CodeHS because it's not what you think it is. It's actually fun, and I bet you'd wish you learned it when you were a kid.

And if you don't want to try it out, that's fine. Just know that when people say we should teach kids to code, we don't mean symbol manipulation or boring math. It can be fun, and we're doing that.

You make a lot of assumptions about how kids have to be taught coding.

> I tried everything possible. Every other trick in the trade. Even tried to start with Python first and not C.

> They struggle to understand where or why should you use an if/else/switch statement, or a for/do/while loop. Its difficult for them to map solution patterns to a code pattern. Its not their fault. Its ours. Better luck trying to explain a kid why they are being asked to write a program find greatest of three numbers, find factorials, or sort numbers. To them it very clearly looks math in a different language. Its that boring math thing all over again.

There are so many other ways to introduce students to programming. This is the main part of the problem. So many people think this is how you have to teach programming. I am in full agreement that you need to teach problem solving, and you can do that with programming.

We start teaching with a simplified language called "karel"--where you have a dog who can only turn left, move, and put down and pick up tennis balls. That's it. There is no overhead of python or C or java. It's just a few commands and a dog. And there is no question on why you should do it.... people do this because it is immediately fun. Printing "hello world" for most people (especially younger kids) is not immediately fun.

Try our demo on the code.org page http://www.code.org/learn/codehs

I have started thousands of students in person with our karel the dog demo. Everyone can do it. Almost everyone finds it to be really fun. Because karel is a simplified language, it is all about problem solving. How do you get a dog to find the midpoint of his world when he cant store variables, but can only ask questions about the state and put down tennis balls?

I contend that you can teach problem solving to students through programming--but it is so crucial how you make that initial experience feel.

There is no

    public static void main(String[] args)

to get started.

Try this out at http://codehs.com. We have schools using it all over the country, and young students can get if/else, and for/while.

> Beyond all this it needs to fun, which it very clearly isn't.

Find a student who didnt like programming, and have them try our karel the dog starter for 10 minutes. Let us know what they say. I bet they think it's fun.

This isn't about growing computer programming education, it's about the basics for people with poor computer literacy.

Google search and PHP.net documentation have done more for growing computer programming education than any project like this.

We need more great documentation resources, and less "let me hold your hand" tutorials.

I don't think the issue is either explaining to kids "how" to code, or "what" to code, but rather "why" to code. We all know why, because it's super awesome and rewarding. The problem is that it's also extremely frustrating, and maybe not everyone is a natural born programmer, that's ok.

I think the reason I always loved programming is because I love computers, a lot. I think kids these days are growing up with technology at their finger tips, computers are second nature to them, and they like technology because it's cool, and yea you can play games on computers. I wonder, how many people in this thread got into programming because they wanted to make a computer game?

When I was a kid I hated math, it felt like nothing more than an exercise in taking orders and doing something for no reason. Every year I would ask my math teacher, "why are we learning this" and no one had a good answer. I really wish someone had been there when I was younger to show me how amazing math can be if you have the right attitude about it; and when I was teaching I always tried to be that person for my students. I know I was able to get through to a few of them at least.

Computer science classes literally make people hate computers, and that makes me sad. I mean why on earth do they make you learn java in school, are you kidding me!!? It's like not enough to ruin math for generation after generation, now they are ruining computers too. What a shame.

When I was teaching physics I used to tell my students "look, you like south park right, well imagine if 200 years from now you had to study south park in school, but instead of watching the episodes and laughing your ass off, you had to memorize a list of every characters name and random facts about them, and then you had to take a test that quized you on how well you had memorized those random facts, and if you didn't do well you got punished by your parents. Well that is exactly what has happened with math and physics."

We don't need kids who know "what to code", we need kids to want to because they think it's interesting and fun. Lots of kids these days already love computers and technology, it's up to us not to let the way programming is taught ruin that for them.

Khan academy for sure can help, if the video's are done right.

I really agree with what you are saying. Not every person will have inclinations to do programming for a career or have it be their passion.

I would say that the goal of any of these initiatives should be to expose the kids at a young age and let them see that it is out there.

I fully starting engaging in software development in University. I know that if I had been exposed to learning programming in a more fun way earlier, it would have been something that I would have really enjoyed and continued.

If a young child has the inclination for it, it would be such a privilege to have them start their journey of learning at a younger age. These are the kids that I want these initiatives to catch. For others, it would be great to have them exposed to it right away too and realize its not for them. There is tremendous benefit in knowing what you don't want to do so you can quit and try something else.