It is that time of the year again. Code.org has come up with Star Wars and Minecraft theme for this year’s largest learning event being held from Dec 7 – Dec 14 during Computer Science Education Week.
Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools teach computer science than 10 years ago. Good news is, we’re on our way to change this. If you’ve heard about the Hour of Code before, you might know it made history. More than 100 million students have tried an Hour of Code.
With the Hour of Code, computer science has been on homepages of Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Disney. Over 100 partners joined together to support this movement. Last year, every Apple Store in the world hosted an Hour of Code and even President Obama wrote his first line of code as part of the campaign.
This year, let’s make it even bigger. I’m asking you to join in for the Hour of Code 2015. Please get involved with an Hour of Code event during Computer Science Education Week, December 7-13.
Get the word out. Host an event. Ask a local school to sign up. Or try the Hour of Code yourself — everyone can benefit from learning the basics.
“The ‘Hour of Code™’ is a nationwide initiative by Computer Science Education Week[csedweek.org] and Code.org[code.org] to introduce millions of students to one hour of computer science and computer programming.
Sometime back I posted about the beginner’s language Scratch, in the post Scratch the Surface. A 10-year old Jess Page in Invercargill has written his first book “Starting from Scratch”. Good on you Jess Page, it is awesome and we need more of your kind to lead your peers. Read more of the story in the Stuff NZ article.
Also, good on Stuff NZ for publishing the story, however it would have been more useful if it had introduced Scratch in a much better way than a one liner in the end, an some snippets in between. I am sure some keen folks will try to figure out what is Scratch and it may win some kids’ heart over Minecraft (don’t get me started!).
You can try your hands on the visual language at https://scratch.mit.edu. I am sure your kids will enjoy it and work around it better than sending a furious bird over a predefined trajectory.
Video created by Michelle Chung and Karen Brennan of the ScratchEd team at Harvard University.
Visit ScratchEd at http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu and try Scratch at http://scratch.mit.edu
This is the power of new-age coding, helping kids to learn while maintaining the fun. As soon as the movie Frozen was released I could hear “Let it go” everywhere. It also got people at the most amazing code.org come up with something magical. They created the Hour of Code with Anna and Elsa, inviting kids all over the world to learn coding with the Frozen characters.
If you can spend one hour with your child and help them get started, it would not be less magical than Frozen. If you have not tried it before, go ahead and give it a shot at Frozen Stage at Code.org. If you are scared of coding, try it yourself, you will enjoy it. No app required, no installs to be done, no sign-up, it all works in your browser.
Check-out the intro video from the folks at code.org.
It took longer than expected to get the third post going. The previous post introduced Lightbot which is a cool kit for getting kids to learn concepts of programming on a mobile device or tablet. This time I’ll show you how to scratch the surface of programming with Scratch.
In 2003 Lifelong Kindergarten Group at Media Lab at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developed Scratch, a desktop software aimed at a range of educational and entertainment purpose. It promotes collaboration and allows mixing of various projects. It is said that the name Scratch comes from the DJ mixing techniques used with turntables.
Since 2007, Scratch is all online, web based, no need to install anything, just grab a laptop (something about a kid’s laptop coming soon in another post), and it is game on!
So what is Scratch?
Head out to Scratch website and check out for yourself. There are help cards, FAQs to get going. If you get stuck, leave a comment below or on our facebook page and I’ll help you out.
If you like TED Talks, you must see this. This is from the creator of Scratch. My a-ha moment was when he talks about how a kid is excited about learning the concept of a Variable in computing. I don’t recall I ever got excited with concept of Variable because I was taught in this way:
“In computer programming, a variable or scalar is a storage location paired with an associated symbolic name (an identifier), which contains some known or unknown quantity or information referred to as a value. The variable name is the usual way to reference the stored value; this separation of name and content allows the name to be used independently of the exact information it represents. The identifier in computer source code can be bound to a value during run time, and the value of the variable may thus change during the course of program execution.” – Definition of Variable from Wikipedia.
If this is how a kid is explained the concept of Variable, I don’t expect a response which can be remotely related to excitement, may be first signs of fear of programming will start to appear.
Here is the Talk:
“Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. See https://scratch.mit.edu“.
Two years ago, or may be little more, at an “unconference” a few people were shocked to hear that a six year should be learning to code. After a few discussions, as in an unconference, it turned out that there is a perception of a coder to be a hairy geek. This perception can be attributed to TV and Cinema. Gosh, how hideous are those “Access Denied” messages in a movie and then suddenly the screen turns alive with gibberish lines of code scrolling at a very fast speed. That is not coding, that is movie crap.So here’s why young kids should learn to code –
1. It is not about the syntax and jargon anymore!
It seems finally, after a full circle of focussing on a plethora of programming languages, the focus is now back on the building blocks, algorithm. This is perfect for young kids as they should not be bothered about Java or C# or Ruby or Python or something else. This is the first step to teach the young minds about dealing with logic – in the language they can understand and not the textbook language of variables, loops, procedure and arrays. None of the tools aimed at the young kids use the heavy jargon or syntax, and uses characters or players which the kids can identify with.
2. It has never been easier to learn to code!
If you just search for “Learn to code”, you will get quite a lot of results, most of them are real sites which will teach you to code, unlike few years ago when there were only static websites offering content for learning programming languages. The good news is that they are available for platform or browser of your choice be it Android, iPad, Windows, Mac, Linux or a Chromebook.
My first encounter with one of these was Lightbot Check this out if you have an Android device. It teaches about consolidating repetitive actions together and then using that to create a command (procedure). It also teaches you to notice patterns, and how these patterns can be re-used. The reason I have highlighted the words notice and re-use because they actually are taught in very advanced level of Computer Science studies as a concept of Reusable Patterns.
Learn to code with Lightbot
Once all the levels are complete, the child can get a cool certificate of participating in the “hour of code”. More about hour of code in another post.
There are many such more apps and programs like these, I’ll keep you posted about these in future posts. If you do not have an Android, don’t despair, you can try out Lightbot for iTunes.
Image copyright Lightbot and Google Play Store.
3. They are not teaching this at school
Most of the schools are using technology as a learning aid for other subjects, but not for technology itself. I say most, because I know many schools in the UK have some focus on programming in the primary and secondary schools and has some BBC sponsorship as well. Well, if it was not for the BBC Micro which was a gift to our school way back in 1986-87, it may have been an altogether different post. There are many clubs there in UK which are aimed at young and teach programming concepts. Out of all the OECD countries, I would not be surprised if UK is emphasising it the most. The rest, they are still catching up or have not given a thought. Yes, there will be some schools that you know which are taking steps to teach young kids to code. Good on them.
4. They learn something
Like everything else, some kids will love it a lot, some will be neutral and some will have an utter dislike for it. They will still learn something out of it, even if they engage for only a little time. It teaches them many concepts which they will use later in life, be it for studying humanities, sciences, commerce or something else. There is not a single field which is untouched by technology and their understanding of the fundamentals of technology will help them perform better in the field they choose.
5. You will love it
When they show you the results of what they have learnt and what they can do, you will not be able to resist the smile. That expression of joy will be the motivation for them to do more.
Come on, give Lightbot a go, am sure you all have an Android or Apple device. If not, the next post will tell you about how to learn to code online using a browser.
Disclaimer – I am not affiliated to Lightbot or gain any benefit from promoting it here.
As a first post I think it is important to answer the foremost question – Why are the concepts of computing important for kids? Everything else can follow, the hows and the whats. If you look around, you can see it for yourself. In a public bus, in a park, maybe in your house, or wherever there are kids. Notice what they are doing, a good percentage of them would be engaged with device. The most weird example I have seen is a mother and son (7-8 years), walking to school, both checking their phones. May be it is just me who finds it strange, but this wasn’t like it few years ago.
These kids are smart, they can handle technology much better than their parents. They can outsmart their parents when it comes to handling a device. Notice their nimbleness when they are playing Temple Run or Angry Birds. It is difficult if not impossible to beat their scores. However there is one problem. If you take the analogy of a language and consider technology to be a language as a means of communication. In order to be considered fluent in a language one needs to master three things – Read, Write and Speak. When someone masters handling device it could be analogous to reading, the aspect of writing comes when they can create the content that can be read. In the context of technology it would mean they should be able to create the technology. The focus needs to move from consumption to creation.
The good news is that it is not difficult or even cost a fortune, mostly free. I am not expecting a 7 year old to learn Python or C++ or whatever programming language comes to your mind. It is about building the foundation around the principles. When a child starts studying Maths, they don’t start with Algebra, but with basic principles of numbers. This is true for any subject taught in the school. This is where the trouble starts, Computer Science is not in the curriculum of many primary and secondary schools. The first time children start learning the concepts of computing is in much later years and by then it becomes too complex to enjoy. Learning should enjoyable and not forced.
We don’t want the entire generation to become a software engineer, just like we don’t want everyone to become an engineer, doctor, architect or artist. Just like every student learns to perform basic dissection, principles of basic chemical reactions, how stuff works they should be taught how apps work, what is Internet and how it works and what is inside their computers. They need to understand how technology works and not take it for granted that it just works.
So how can we teach the concepts?
In the coming posts I will break it down into simpler pieces and start looking at various ways you can help kids learn about the principles of computing. A lot of foundation has already been laid by many who have a similar belief. The platform that is Zoom With IT will be a gateway to many of these if not all. Even if this helps foster an interest in one child it would make this worthwhile. All it needs is persistence. “Persistence is all about hanging in there, when you really want to give up”. Enjoy this video in the meantime.
w-age coding, helping kids to learn while maintaining the fun. As soon as the movie Frozen was released I could hear “Let it go” everywhere. It also got people at the most amazing 
