[Swansea Hackspace] Teaching Children to Code

[Sharon Mitchell]

Hey Richard, 

Urge to throw my 2c worth in, so here goes..

> I have been looking at coding tools to help teach my 8yr old son how
> to code.

Great news!

> I've looked at Scratch (can't get it to install on Mac and site is
> down) and Tynker (paid US offering), code-Cade,y I have used but not
> right for Max at 8yrs old.
> 
> For UK are there better resources that I can use to educate him?
> Ideally something that will align with School if possible - any ideas?

If you want to EDUCATE your son and get across the CONCEPT of coding (as
opposed "here's this particular tool, I am going to TRAIN you to use
THIS tool" you can do a lot worse than plain old LEGO, graph paper and
pencils..Hear me out :)

What is code.? It's simply a collection of explicit instructions given
in a particular order executed upon certain conditions.

"LEGO blind builds" and "graph-paper programming" are a great primer for
this concept.  A tutor-student pair act as "computer" and
"programmer" in turn.  The "programmers" job is to describe a LEGO
structure / pixelated graph paper picture to the "computer" who
builds / shades what has just been described (the "computer" is "blind"
remember).

You'd be surprised how often these simple describe-copy creations go
wrong! But it's a great way to get across the importance of there being:

1) zero room for ambiguity in your instruction
2) ordering of instruction has importance
3) some ops are conditional on earlier ops (the blue 4x4 only goes on
if the red 6x2 is in place for example)

I don't believe you need to throw (expensive) resources at the problem
of "getting kids to code"* what I have described would work as well in
an outdoor classroom with no electricity as it does here in the UK.

Sorting and searching can be covered with a "structure" of kids (OK,
you'd need more kids for that, I'm sure someone will let you
borrow.? :) )  Have them line up into a 1D array, make them into a
FILO, whatever :)

These activities are great for those that learn in a different style
(proprioception as opposed verbal/linguistic learners but I'm
digressing here).

So, yeah, I think what I'm trying to say is don't get too immersed in
what tool to use to deliver this material.  You'll find you already
have what you need at home right now.

HTH

- Sharon

* tbh I don't believe the answer to _any_ problem is to throw more
  resources at it, that way an arms race starts :)





> 
> All help gratefully received,
> 
> Richard