[Swansea Hackspace] Teaching Children to Code

[Richard Morgan]

Thanks Sharon,
Very good point and a great idea, so much so that I've now gone to
https://code.org/learn and found their 'unplugged' pages.

It's the 'educating' I'm after for Max to understand the principles that
underpin coding skills as a foundation. I learned by jumping in and
tinkering with existing code off the web, and as such I know 'a bit' but
can't class myself as a coder. For Max's age these days I see coding as a
key skill to have under your belt because it opens up so many possibilities.

Appreciate you taking the time to respond. I think our weekends are going
to be busy :-)

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

On 26 July 2015 at 11:18, Sharon Mitchell <sharon at swansea.hackspace.org.uk>
wrote:

> 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
>
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-- 
Kind regards,

Richard
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