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Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

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Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#61

Post by ktf »

biotech wrote: post #36

This is great. I'm working with a local elementary school teacher this fall to teach kids (9-10 year olds) programming. We plan to use Scratch as it gives immediate results and demonstrates many core programming concepts (variables, loops, conditionals, etc). If they take to it very quickly, we may try a real programming language. If anyone has experience teaching kids this age programming, or if you know of any reso…

Two new books on the way from No Starch Press: Super Scratch Programming Adventure (http://nostarch.com/scratch -- available now) and Python for Kids (http://nostarch.com/pythonforkids -- available soon).

The Scratch book is probably appropriate for ages 8 and up, the Python one for ages 10 and up (depending on the kid, of course).

Disclaimer: I work as an editor for No Starch.

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#62

Post by prawks »

xyzzyb wrote: post #37

"A normal person would have told her computers are for nerds, and not to waste her time with one." I doubt that would actually be the case these days.

I stopped reading after that line. Someone with such a skewed view of the world shouldn't be teaching children.

But really, what kind of statement is that? Who/what is a "normal" person? How elite does the author think his/herself to be claiming to be above "normal" people who clearly don't care about technology? (For an answer: read the author's "Why you need to hire me" page, which begins with "I deliver.")

Sweet site layout though, totally nailed it bro.

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#63

Post by Qz »

elliottcarlson wrote: post #12

I decided to teach my niece how to program at the age of 10 as well. She had already just naturally gotten the hang of the computer since she was about 6 (though I had to reverse the mouse buttons because originally her small hands couldn't left click). At 10 years old she was already telling my sister-in-law how to do things, was a near master of google-fu and had all the game sites she liked bookmarked. I wanted to…

You never know -- she might end up being into both, like me.

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#64

Post by TallGuyShort »

arkitaip wrote: post #7
dkhenry wrote: post #3

I am continually amazed at the capabilities of kids. Their ability to understand whats presented to them is astounding. I really think one of the problems with the education system is we have this idea that everyone must progress in all areas at the same rate, and we stop teaching kids new things until they understand the set of things they "should" know for their age. In a structured school system she wouldn't be al…

Or maybe we're expecting too much of the school system when it should be the responsibility of parents to teach their skills valuable skills. School isn't the solution to all our problems.

I agree, but I do wish there was a better way for school to get out of the way when parents decide to do that. I moved to America when I was in middle school and had already learned to program from my brothers and was years ahead of my American peers in mathematics. I was placed in a slightly-less-behind "advanced" mathematics class, but I was required to keep submitting homework assignments for all the mathematics classes I was "skipping". I had more than double the busy-work and I still felt held back on the subject matter.

A better approach? Admit that the school was holding me back and allow me to pursue an alternate course of study with my family, without the burden of additional work for classes that aren't at my level. In a lot of places, doing that isn't nearly as easy as it should be.

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#65

Post by elliottcarlson »

Qz wrote: post #63
elliottcarlson wrote: post #12

I decided to teach my niece how to program at the age of 10 as well. She had already just naturally gotten the hang of the computer since she was about 6 (though I had to reverse the mouse buttons because originally her small hands couldn't left click). At 10 years old she was already telling my sister-in-law how to do things, was a near master of google-fu and had all the game sites she liked bookmarked. I wanted to…

You never know -- she might end up being into both, like me.

I'll be happy for her whichever which way she goes - as long as she gives it her best :)

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#67

Post by SkyMarshal »

biotech wrote: post #36

This is great. I'm working with a local elementary school teacher this fall to teach kids (9-10 year olds) programming. We plan to use Scratch as it gives immediate results and demonstrates many core programming concepts (variables, loops, conditionals, etc). If they take to it very quickly, we may try a real programming language. If anyone has experience teaching kids this age programming, or if you know of any reso…

http://paulgraham.com/avg.html

Especially check out the footnote, A Scheme Story:

http://www.trollope.org/scheme.html

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#68

Post by mechanical_fish »

patio11 wrote: post #44
EliRivers wrote: post #34

Are there plumbing pages where people teach their children to plumb, or dry-walling speciality sites where folks discuss how to get their kids into plasterwork? Is this just a few cases, or is there something about programming that makes people think it should be done by everyone? I recall not so long ago a thread about how programming should be taught at school alongside English (read "mastery of relevant language"…

Are there plumbing pages where people teach their children to plumb, or dry-walling speciality sites where folks discuss how to get their kids into plasterwork? That sort of thing is quite popular with Boy Scouts and the like. You can get a special magazine for fun father&son activities like The Joy of Spackle. Totally not joking.

I gave my niece a toy, which she reportedly loved, in which you build little hydraulic systems out of toy pipes.

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/search.cfm?q=%20bridge%20street%...

Meanwhile, there's little need for toy drywall compound. We have Play-Doh, better in many ways, or for the older and wiser there is papier-mâché or real modeling clay or, well, drywall compound. It's not that dangerous except to your furniture and carpets.

Have we talked to any actual five-year-olds while constructing this metaphor? The ones who are obsessed with Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine and Wallace and Gromit (tinkerers, ya know) and who own little toy plastic toolboxes and squeal at the sight of construction equipment? Is it only my friends' kids who are like this?

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#69

Post by jessriedel »

EliRivers wrote: post #38
jessriedel wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is there something about programming that makes people think it should be done by everyone? Yes.

Is it possible for you to expand on this? To give just one example, plumbing is far more fundamental to civilisation and we're happy to have a trained cadre of plumbers, and for most people to go their whole lives with no knowledge of it. Do plumbers wander round shaking their heads and wondering why nobody else knows how to do it?

Programming is a fundamental concept like arithmetic or persuasive argument. It is about turning abstract human thought into machine-executable algorithms. Children who learn to program will grow up smarter and more productive than those who don't, even if they never code for their job.

In addition, the number of jobs that requiring programing skills is exploding and will continue to grow. The basic idea of automating information tasks is useful for many, many tasks.

Re: Teaching my 10 year old niece how to program.

#70

Post by jessriedel »

pulplobster wrote: post #42
EliRivers wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible for you to expand on this? To give just one example, plumbing is far more fundamental to civilisation and we're happy to have a trained cadre of plumbers, and for most people to go their whole lives with no knowledge of it. Do plumbers wander round shaking their heads and wondering why nobody else knows how to do it?

I'd say for a number of reasons they're different. Plumbing, while probably useful at some point in your life, is just one activity. Programming is NOT just one thing. It's closer to woodshop (which I hope is still in schools...). Another difference I think is that you can create something bigger with it, something that scales. Last but not least, I think it's inherently fun and fulfilling to create something out of…

I would say programming is analogous to the entire idea of working with your hands (which subsumes woodshop, metal shops, car repair, etc.).
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