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Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

ubuntulife.net

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Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

#2

Post by CGamesPlay »

My gut reaction is that this is a good idea. It will definitely help develop logic and mathematics skills. I am concerned by the focus on "web and mobile", though. It seems like it would be better to focus on raw computer science for a program like this.

Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

#3

Post by ollysb »

CGamesPlay wrote: post #2

My gut reaction is that this is a good idea. It will definitely help develop logic and mathematics skills. I am concerned by the focus on "web and mobile", though. It seems like it would be better to focus on raw computer science for a program like this.

I'm sure that children are going to be more interested in what they can create using programming rather than honing their computer science skills. The web and mobile provide great opportunities for children to play with programming and make something fun.

Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

#4

Post by ledlauzis »

CGamesPlay wrote: post #2

My gut reaction is that this is a good idea. It will definitely help develop logic and mathematics skills. I am concerned by the focus on "web and mobile", though. It seems like it would be better to focus on raw computer science for a program like this.

I guess there will not going to be a hard coding for first graders but some basic introduction to it. Can't imagine any first grader to code an app. Will see once more information about the learning process will be available.

Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

#5

Post by beambot »

Stop with the "firsts". This is clearly not the "first time programming was taught to first graders" -- especially since we were introduced to programming back in Kindergarten (20+ years ago).

This doesn't need to be a "first" in order to be an honorable pursuit. The link-bait HN title is really annoying and detracts from the message.

Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

#6

Post by laacz »

ollysb wrote: post #3
CGamesPlay wrote: post #2

My gut reaction is that this is a good idea. It will definitely help develop logic and mathematics skills. I am concerned by the focus on "web and mobile", though. It seems like it would be better to focus on raw computer science for a program like this.

I'm sure that children are going to be more interested in what they can create using programming rather than honing their computer science skills. The web and mobile provide great opportunities for children to play with programming and make something fun.

There already are lots of alternatives, which do not include web or mobile, but are very illustrative for common programming related stuff. Off the top of my head there is an old language called LOGO [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)]. I do not see need to tie imagination to web and/or mobile.

Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren

#7

Post by dsrguru »

beambot wrote: post #5

Stop with the "firsts". This is clearly not the "first time programming was taught to first graders" -- especially since we were introduced to programming back in Kindergarten (20+ years ago). This doesn't need to be a "first" in order to be an honorable pursuit. The link-bait HN title is really annoying and detracts from the message.

The HN title is unclear, but the point is that this would be the first time programming is taught to all first graders in a country. At least that's what the article's title claim implies: "Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren." The article itself doesn't seem to suggest a mandatory curriculum change at the national level, though.
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