Teach concepts before code. For example, if I'm teaching kids what variables are I bring out a bunch of boxes with labels on them. The boxes represent the com

Teach concepts before code. For example, if I'm teaching kids what variables are I bring out a bunch of boxes with labels on them. The boxes represent the computer memory. I can put numbers in the boxes. I can put other things in boxes, strings and so on. I find a lot of people get confused by the difference between a variable name and its value. This isn't helped by the the fact that almost all programming languages use equals for assignment. Only after showing them the concept thoroughly do I introduce code. I treat code as "telling the computer what I want to do" and the activity as "what I want to do".