As a developer I like the idea. As a citizen I wonder why a nation should prioritize programming before any other skill set? Why not rhetoric, drawing or dancing? What are the underlying assumptions and goals of teaching programming at such a young age? Is any of this evidence based?
Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
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Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#12To those of us outside of the USA, at what age are people in First Grade?
6 or 7, usually depending on whether you were born later or earlier in the year.
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I sometimes make basic freeby sites for friends. Fully grown adults get really excited about having their own web page up on the net. I've got to admit I had fun with LOGO back in the day, but if I'd been able to manipulate the internet, now that would have been exciting...
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#14As a developer I like the idea. As a citizen I wonder why a nation should prioritize programming before any other skill set? Why not rhetoric, drawing or dancing? What are the underlying assumptions and goals of teaching programming at such a young age? Is any of this evidence based?
As a programmer, I have to agree. Of the many skills I think every kid should know, programming does not really rank highly. I'd rather they teach something like cooking or first-aid.
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#15It's not a country-wide mandate.
AFAIK no country/state has compulsory programming classes for any level in the same way they require maths etc ((please tell me if I'm wrong!). If so, that's rather surprising in 2012.
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#16To those of us outside of the USA, at what age are people in First Grade?
Does anyone know of a good comparison between different schooling systems in the world? I don't mean about their quality, but about stuff like ed asked. Is kindergarten or preschools are mandatory, How many years of schooling are required, are different schools are allowed to change the curriculum when they see fit (teach other subjects), and general "facts" like that.
Of course I can find all about it in Wikipedia, but that would take hours (for different countries around the world) and I wanted to save some time if possible. Thanks!
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#17As a developer I like the idea. As a citizen I wonder why a nation should prioritize programming before any other skill set? Why not rhetoric, drawing or dancing? What are the underlying assumptions and goals of teaching programming at such a young age? Is any of this evidence based?
As a programmer, I have to agree. Of the many skills I think every kid should know, programming does not really rank highly. I'd rather they teach something like cooking or first-aid.
Unless teaching programming or some web design work is taking a huge amount of time each week, there's no reason cooking or first-aid can't be taught as well. However, cooking is one thing that is not likely to be taught; the use of knives or even a single shared oven is a disaster waiting to happen, at least according to my brother (he's a primary school teacher).
My main concern would be having the teachers trained to be able to provide such an education themselves. Often primary school teachers tend to be older and female; for whatever reasons, this is not a demographic that would be particularly capable of learning 'enough' programming to teach it effectively, even at a primary school level.
However, as an Estonian citizen I think it's pretty cool idea. There is a big push here to make the country IT-focused, so it's no surprise this filters down to the lower levels of education.
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#18Skype as far as I know was started by a swede and a Dane. The Estonian connection I think comes from having a large engineering office there.
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#19As a developer I like the idea. As a citizen I wonder why a nation should prioritize programming before any other skill set? Why not rhetoric, drawing or dancing? What are the underlying assumptions and goals of teaching programming at such a young age? Is any of this evidence based?
It is probably economically motivated. Estonia, like many central and eastern European countries, is seeing strong relative growth in their technology sectors. Rhetoric, drawing, dancing & carpentry are not exactly as likely to drive the nation's economy in 2023 when these children graduate from school.
Re: Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I remember LOGO on the MicroBee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroBee) at school, and BASIC was also available, I had a TRS-80 at home.
It is a good foundation to 'programming' as opposed to a whole generation of kids in the 90s who learnt 'web design' with a WYSIWYG editor.