Coding for technophobes: how to teach the new computing curriculum The ICT curriculum is changing. For a start, it has a new name: computing. The hope is that the new curriculum will equip children with the skills they need to become active participants of this fast-paced digital world. Some teachers are understandably apprehensive about teaching skills such as computer programming, which will become increasingly important for pupils. Teaching my Year 4 class how to program by creating computer games has actually been a lot easier than I first anticipated. It involved me recognising that my pupils are at the age where many of them already play computer games – on consoles, PCs or portable devices.
Learn to Code for Free With These 10 Online Resources If Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates say so, it must be true: Understanding how to code is the new literacy. Take Zuck and Gates' advice — learn to code. Understanding computer programming will open doors to new jobs and opportunities. But you're probably thinking, where do I even begin? Will code classes drain my money and time? 10 Online Courses to Beef Up Your STEM Knowledge Looking to boost your STEM knowledge? If you're not interested, can't afford, or don't have the budget to go back to school, you're in luck. There's a flourishing education landscape at your fingertips on the Internet. From courses for experts to beginners, free programs to paid sessions, there are options for all types of learners looking for a variety of skills. We scoured the web to find top curricula in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), all of which you can take from the comfort of your home. Look through the gallery above at a small sampling of STEM courses you can take online.
Kodable Teaches Kids To Code Before They Learn To Read Preschool and kindergarten are recommended times for kids to learn a new language, while they’re still in the process of learning their first one. So Grechen Huebner and her cofounder, Jon Mattingly, created an app that teaches kids to program - before they’ve even learned how to read. The idea behind the iPad app, Kodable, is just that simple: create an app to make programming a child’s second language as early as possible in the child’s life. Kodable is designed for children between the ages of five and seven, but Huebner said it’s been tested and enjoyed by kids as young as three.
The (Apparently) Irrelevant Question Truth rarely appears where we might look logically. The creation of new knowledge almost always requires some wandering off course. The more we cling to coastline, the less apt we are to find the New World. As Melville so dramatically pointed out in Moby Dick, the search for truth requires the courage to venture out and away from the familiar and the known. In his chapter on the Lee Shore, Melville comments . . . Can These iPad Apps Teach Your Kid to Code? - Lauren Goode - Product Reviews The pillars of elementary education in the U.S. — reading, writing, math — have remained the same for a long time. Now another skill set is increasingly coming into focus: Computer programming. This week, I tested two new mobile apps, Kodable and Hopscotch, that are aimed at teaching young children the basic skills necessary for computer programming. Both are for iOS — specifically, for iPad — although Kodable plans to introduce an Android version of the app.
How These Amazing, Kid-Friendly Languages Are Hooking Tomorrow's Programmers SmartBrief Exclusive Preview Page 3 of 3 How These Amazing, Kid-Friendly Languages Are Hooking Tomorrow's Programmers Simon Haughton's website: LOGO Programming I'm going to admit that the fourth lesson I do on LOGO is complicated - the understanding of the programming commands that is required is of a high level and any mistake made (even the tiniest one) will result in either commands not being executed properly or error messages popping up on screen. It is, however, a lesson which the children rose to the challenge of today and which they were extremely impressed with when they saw what on-screen patterns they had managed to produce by its end. The age-old saying "you only get out what you put in" was certainly true today!
Game Design Elements in the Creation Process Incorporating these four concrete elements of game design in the planning phases can make the creation process much easier for students. Our school has just introduced Scratch to our 4th graders. This particular set of students has not done any sort of programming before, so the block-based nature of Scratch was completely new to them - in addition to the concepts related to programming. The concern with introducing them to Scratch wasn't with the Lego-like connection of blocks or the eight color-coded themes that organize the types of blocks. These parts of Scratch are incredibly intuitive (**tipping hat to the folks at MIT Media Lab and the Life Long Kindergarten Group**). Because it is so intuitive, after just 2 30-minute session, these 4th graders have made some very impressive programs!
the Hour of Code is coming On Monday, October 14, 2013, Code.org announced the “Hour of Code," a campaign to introduce 10 million students to one hour of Computer Science. Live stream of the announcement Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey Among Those Joining Campaign SAN FRANCISCO and SEATTLE – October 14, 2013 – Code.org, the non-profit dedicated to promoting computer science education, today announced a nationwide campaign calling on every K-12 student in America to join an "Hour of Code." The initiative asks schools, teachers and parents across the country to help introduce more than 10 million students of all ages to computer programming during Computer Science Education Week, December 9-15, 2013.
Learning Webs (social networks) Learning Webs In a previous chapter I discussed what is becoming a common complaint about schools, one that is reflected, for example, in the recent report of the Carnegie Commission: In school registered students submit to certified teachers in order to obtain certificates of their own; both are frustrated and both blame insufficient resources--money, time, or buildings--for their mutual frustration. Such criticism leads many people to ask whether it is possible to conceive of a different style of learning. The same people, paradoxically, when pressed to specify how they acquired what they know and value, will readily admit that they learned it more often outside than inside school. Their knowledge of facts, their understanding of life and work came to them from friendship or love, while viewing TV, or while reading, from examples of peers or the challenge of a street encounter.
Teachers talk about TKP The TEACHERS resource section of the TKP site is organized as follows: General Topics for teachers on this site include the following: what we teach (i.e. which languages, software, IDEs, etc..) Welcome, Inventors! App Inventor is a free, cloud-based service that allows you to make your own mobile apps using a blocks based programming language. You access App Inventor using a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). With these beginner-friendly tutorials, you will learn the basics of programming apps for Android devices. Teach Kids Programming with These 7 iOS Apps Learning how to code is now more important than ever before. Technology is going to play a big role in our lives in upcoming decades. It is a very good idea to teach young kids foundations of good coding for the future.