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Depends whether you want to teach code or computer science (and code). I wrote a book to teach 7-11 year olds to code in Python and Scratch and teach them some

by hywel 10y ago

Depends whether you want to teach code or computer science (and code). I wrote a book to teach 7-11 year olds to code in Python and Scratch and teach them some computer science along the way - I read a few other books out there first, and there's a lot of "just copy out this code and things will happen", which is exactly what I tried to avoid in this book. The reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28232614-coding-unlocked#other_reviews http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28232614-coding-unlocked#... The book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013R4OFVA/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B013R4OFVA&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013R4OFVA/ref=x_gr_w_bb?i...

monk_e_boy 10y ago
I'm a teacher - scratch and python
josephorjoe 10y ago
My son is 8 and started using Scratch at school. He had me install it on my macbook and he created a simple side-scroll game and a program to play the Jingle Bells chorus. I was impressed with how quickly he went from "just tried this at school" to "leave me alone, Dad, I know what I'm doing here". Seems like a good intro for kids.
- rickyc091 10y ago
  You don't have to install Scratch! The old version required you to install it, but these days you just need to use the browser version. https://scratch.mit.edu/ https://scratch.mit.edu/
pbhjpbhj 10y ago
Hywel, I notice the blurb says "in line with the new National Curriculum" is that a USA-wide curriculum or is it in another country. I've got kids in that age range in the UK and they don't do any such computing/coding [at school!].
- hywel 10y ago
  Yeah, the UK National Curriculum says children need to learn a visual language (like Scratch) and then a text based one (like Python). Your kids should be doing visual coding in school from Key Stage 2.
  - danellis 10y ago
    In case anyone else was wondering, "Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11."

by hywel 10y ago

monk_e_boy 10y ago

I'm a teacher - scratch and python

josephorjoe 10y ago

My son is 8 and started using Scratch at school. He had me install it on my macbook and he created a simple side-scroll game and a program to play the Jingle Bells chorus. I was impressed with how quickly he went from "just tried this at school" to "leave me alone, Dad, I know what I'm doing here". Seems like a good intro for kids.

rickyc091 10y ago
You don't have to install Scratch! The old version required you to install it, but these days you just need to use the browser version. https://scratch.mit.edu/ https://scratch.mit.edu/

pbhjpbhj 10y ago

Hywel, I notice the blurb says "in line with the new National Curriculum" is that a USA-wide curriculum or is it in another country. I've got kids in that age range in the UK and they don't do any such computing/coding [at school!].

hywel 10y ago
Yeah, the UK National Curriculum says children need to learn a visual language (like Scratch) and then a text based one (like Python). Your kids should be doing visual coding in school from Key Stage 2.
- danellis 10y ago
  In case anyone else was wondering, "Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11."