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Groups > comp.lang.java.programmer > #13495
| From | Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.java.programmer |
| Subject | Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) |
| Date | 2012-04-12 04:36 -0700 |
| Organization | Canadian Mind Products |
| Message-ID | <qqddo7l1he5p5u9db082fingptlgmlbtgt@4ax.com> (permalink) |
| References | <pg3do753evmvoql7l2anvnt49qarggqeg6@4ax.com> |
On Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:12:39 +0100, Mark <i@dontgetlotsofspamanymore.invalid> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said : > >Does anyone know any good resources to teach Java programming to kids. >I know the theory but I don't know how to make it interesting for >children. When they realize they won't be writing the next FPS game >within the first half hour they often lose motivation ;-) I taught computer summer camp circa 1983 with spectacular results vis a vis motivation. I am sure I wrote an essay on my techniques, but I cannot find it. After interviewing each camper, I discovered they nearly all wanted to write video games. Astoundingly the 7 to 15 year olds wrote primitive ones in a week. I promised them I would not tell them anything that was not needed to write video games. They would have to trust me. I never demanded their attention for more than 15 seconds at a time. I presented everything as a puzzle to be solved, rather than methods to be memorised. They were NOT supposed to understand. I just gave hints. They have to figure it out. For example the opening exercise was to figure out what each of the keys on the keyboard did. They figured it all out far faster than I could have explained it to them, and without the tedium. I leaked information to advanced students. Other students seeing the benefits of this knowledge would chase me around demanding to be taught too. Some professional teachers went bug-eyed seeing some ten year olds DEMANDING to be taught trigonometry. Pandemonium is normal and should not be discouraged. I relaxed every normal rule of school I possibly could, including demanding respect. There were handouts in the form of simple program listings students could, key, understand and then do theme and variation. They never saw anything put properly commented structured code, and so it never occurred to them to write anything else. Visual elements, especially reusable visual element lead naturally to logical structure. The idea to start the student did almost nothing, but got a huge payoff, e.g. a giant flying helicopter. Over time to get more subtle control they had to master more and more. None of this boring learning to do arithmetic. That was left to the very end when they were motivated to demand it. Lots of use of canned random number generation to clone and randomly position. I had a dream team of tutors who worked with the kids. Mostly what they had to do was keep kids who were falling behind the others from freaking out. The kids expected so much of themselves. The kids were insanely motivated, pouring over listing every waking moment. I had some "experienced" older kids who were resistant to learning anything. I just let them go. It was so fun when the little kids quickly surpassed them and their spaghetti methods. I poured a jug of orange juice over one brat's head. I was legendary ever after ever though the backers were terrified the kid's parents would sue. We had spectacular food. Even the kids commented how good it was. -- Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products http://mindprod.com When you were a child, if you did your own experiment to see if it was better to put to cocoa into your cup first or the hot milk first, then you likely have the programmer gene..
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Teaching kids to program (in Java) Mark <i@dontgetlotsofspamanymore.invalid> - 2012-04-12 09:12 +0100
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-04-12 08:28 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-04-12 04:36 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-04-12 09:47 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Lew <noone@lewscanon.com> - 2012-04-12 07:42 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-04-12 19:41 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2012-04-13 21:22 -0300
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Mark <i@dontgetlotsofspamanymore.invalid> - 2012-04-16 13:53 +0100
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-04-12 13:09 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-04-12 13:28 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-12 19:16 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) David Lamb <dalamb@cs.queensu.ca> - 2012-04-12 20:36 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-04-12 19:55 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-04-13 05:03 -0500
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-04-13 10:14 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-04-13 09:27 -0500
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-13 20:42 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-04-14 02:08 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-05-05 20:13 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-05-06 12:06 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-05-06 11:38 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Rui Maciel <rui.maciel@gmail.com> - 2012-04-13 14:06 +0100
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-04-13 09:07 -0500
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-04-13 09:53 -0500
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Joshua Cranmer <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2012-04-13 10:55 -0500
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-04-13 08:39 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-13 20:47 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-04-15 20:05 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-17 22:11 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-04-17 19:57 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-18 19:20 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-04-18 18:03 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2012-04-19 20:15 -0300
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-04-19 20:08 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2012-04-20 12:43 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-04-20 12:58 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-04-20 15:20 -0500
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-04-20 13:30 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-05-05 20:23 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-05-06 12:22 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-05-06 11:36 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-05-06 17:10 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-05-07 09:43 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Martin Gregorie <martin@address-in-sig.invalid> - 2012-05-07 18:17 +0000
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-05-05 20:18 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-13 20:44 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-04-13 20:38 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Gunter Herrmann <notformail0106@earthlink.net> - 2012-04-16 15:32 -0400
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-04-12 19:44 -0700
Re: Teaching kids to program (in Java) Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org> - 2012-04-13 17:59 -0700
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