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Teaching Kids to Code

Teaching Kids to Code
Every era demands--and rewards--different skills. In different times and different places, we have taught our children to grow vegetables, build a house, forge a sword or blow a delicate glass, bake bread, create a soufflé, write a story or shoot hoops. Now we are teaching them to code. We are teaching them to code, however, not so much as an end in itself but because our world has morphed: so many of the things we once did with elements such as fire and iron, or tools such as pencil and paper, are now wrought in code. We are teaching coding to help our kids craft their future. In this collection we share many different perspectives on coding, from a university professor's vantage point (MIT's Mitch Resnick describes why learning to code is like learning to learn) to an entrepreneur's reflections from his cross-country roadtrip to bring coding--and his stuffed dog--to classrooms across the U.S. We should always teach children to bake bread, feed the goats and wield a hammer.

Sokikom Math Game: an MMO Education Through Social Interaction Sokikom math game teaches through social interaction Educational games have come a long way since The Oregon Trail and Math Blaster. Sokikom is a MMO math game that aims to help teachers educate their students by using this interactive and math-based online world. After receiving a $2M startup grant funded by The Institute of Educational Sciences as well as former Intel Chairman and CEO Dr. Similar to many MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) that have many different worlds, regions, and countries, Sokikom has different math regions that each correlate to a different subject in math. The games are all progressively difficult and each math type begins with a fun tutorial to introduce students to the game. Educational games are nothing new; many people have learned math and language from retro games or further back. Parents can also benefit greatly from this. via TechCrunch Save $150 on your ticket by using code GBLOG14 at checkout!

Part 4: Introduction to XAML | Windows Phone 8 Development for Absolute Beginners Source Code: PDF Version: In this lesson, I want to talk about the XAML syntax we wrote in our first pass at the SoundBoard app. Hopefully you could see how the XAML we wrote impacted what we saw in the Phone preview pane. It's relatively easy to figure out the absolute basics of XAML just by looking at it, but I want to point out some of the features and functions that may not be obvious at first glance. At a high level, here's our game plan in this lesson: We'll talk about the purpose and nature of XAML, comparing it to C# We'll talk about the special features of XAML ... little hidden features of the language that may not become obvious by just staring at it My aim is by the end of this lesson you'll have enough knowledge that you can look at the XAML we write in the remainder of this series and be able to take a pretty good guess at what it's doing before I even try to explain it. 1. XAML is a special usage of XML. 2.

Teach Your Kids to Code: 6 Beginner's Resources for Parents Introducing computer programming to your kids can be a challenge, especially for those who aren’t familiar with the nuances of code. Fortunately, in the last few years, a number of apps, software, and guides have been produced that make the often-complex subject of computer coding easy to grasp for young learners. So where to begin? These are a few resources that parents can share with their kids to help them start learning about programming. Programming Tutorials From Made With Code by Google: Google's Made With Code project has a mission of encouraging girls to pursue careers in computer science. Inspiring Articles About Kids Learning to Code Still looking for some ideas? Coding Organizations for Kids For the non-coding parents, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

Teaching kids how to write computer programs, by Marshall Brain by Marshall Brain Quick Intro - If you are looking for a quick and easy way to teach your kid a real programming language, without downloading anything or buying anything, try these Python tutorials. Your kid will be writing and modifying code in just a few minutes. Marshall Brain's quick and easy Python tutorials Let's say that you have children, and you would like to help them learn computer programming at a youngish age. Let's start with a something important: Every kid is different. The second thing to realize is that real analytical skills often don't start appearing until age 11 or 12 or 13 in many kids, so expecting huge breakthroughs prior to that may be unrealistic. That being said, there are lots of fun things you can try as early as five or six... Games Let's start with a few games. Magic Pen (wait a few seconds to see the word "play", then click the word "Play") Fantastic Contraption Auditorium (Drag the circle-with-arrow-in-it around. I love Light Bot. Python for Kids RoboMind

Cargo-Bot – iPad The first game programmed entirely on iPad® Be Logical. Play Cargo-Bot Presenting Cargo-Bot. Get it for free on the App Store. Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where you teach a robot how to move crates. It features 36 fiendishly clever puzzles, haunting music and stunning retina graphics. Built with Codea Cargo-Bot is the first game on the App Store developed using Codea, an iPad app for rapidly creating games and simulations. Get Codea on the App Store. Cargo-Bot was developed by Rui Viana using Codea. Fred Bogg coded the entire music engine using Codea's sound API, as well as composing the Cargo-Bot score. Interactive Fiction Game Design // Crossposted on my blog with video at The Pew Research Center reports that approximately 97% of teens play video games in their free time. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subject-areas have used programming and game design to teach 21st Century skills, but what can an English class do to leverage the potential of game-based learning? Return to Zork I remember when my family brought home our first computer, a used Commodore 64. After analyzing several essays containing descriptive imagery and composing a short piece of writing about a favorite location in San Francisco, students honed their descriptive writing skills by creating text-based interactive fiction games using PlayFic.com and the Inform 7 programming language. Zork Quest Day 1 Interactive Fiction What is interactive fiction? Extension Play through a few games in the 2012 International Fiction competition and vote on them (you must register with the site to vote). Homework Day 2 Day 3

Binary Game Skip to Content | Skip to Footer Cisco Binary Game The Cisco Binary Game is the best way to learn and practice the binary number system. It is great for classes, students and teachers in science, math, digital electronics, computers, programming, logic and networking. Kidsruby.com SNAP! (Build Your Own Blocks)

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