Teaching kids programming

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/Teaching kids programming

Spec(Posted 2011) [#1]
Hi there, not been on here for some time. My last visit and coding was in 2003! when I made a kids colouring program called Colour Splash!

Anyway since then my son is 11 years old and I thought it would be a good idea to learn him to program and make a start.

Any ideas on where to start and what to teach so he doesn't lose interest?

Thanks.


andy_mc(Posted 2011) [#2]
show him something basic that he can understand but does something cool. Like having a sprite move around the screen and fire at the mouse pointer when you click the mouse.

Last edited 2011


Rob the Great(Posted 2011) [#3]
Check this out...I almost thought it was the same person because the situation is so similar.

http://blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=92604#1057214.


Htbaa(Posted 2011) [#4]
Though not Blitz related, but perhaps this is something? http://cdsmith.wordpress.com/category/haskell-for-kids/


Yasha(Posted 2011) [#5]
Any ideas on where to start and what to teach so he doesn't lose interest?


TBH you really need to build this around what your son is like. All children being different, it's quite hard to give a general recommendation (e.g. when I was 11, I thought games and graphics were stupid and was only interested in Unix system administration. Yes, really).

i.e. How long is his attention span? What, if anything, has he expressed an interest in? How quickly does he absorb information, and does he prefer to read around a problem first, or dive in and solve it practically?

e.g. For someone who doesn't mind reading and a lot of theory, I believe there is literally no better introduction to programming than SICP, but the book is really slow going (it's aimed at university-level).

That Haskell For Kids link looks like it could be just about the best possible option: functional programming is a far better place to start with than procedural or OOP for two reasons:
-- a lot of studies seem to indicate it's easier
-- it's easier to move from functional to imperative than the other way around, when learning a second programming language
...and it has immediate practical value, because Haskell is both fast and well-equipped with libraries.

Another good one is Dr Racket. It's based on Scheme, but extended to teach other important concepts as well (such as static typing, which isn't present in Scheme itself). It comes with an IDE and is intended for teaching, with lots of learning material available on the same site.

Oh, and something I've noticed is a common trend with teaching programming and similar disciplines: don't underestimate his intelligence, or confuse intelligence with attention span. In my experience, children can absorb quite a lot of information as long as you present it clearly. Don't make the "lessons" too simple.

Last edited 2011


Spec(Posted 2011) [#6]
Just downloaded the free version of Monkey which will convert to HTML 5, might get him interested and could also lead towards web design.

What do you think?


TeaBoy(Posted 2011) [#7]
Have you considered http://www.raspberrypi.org/

I will definately be getting one ;o)


Yue(Posted 2011) [#8]
The will and motivation is most important, the approach gives a child can start that they love video games, so it is a good start.

So since you have motivation, sure will be learning.


Kirkkaf13(Posted 2011) [#9]
Check out Microsoft SmallBasic www.smallbasic.com