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The problem is that you couched this in teaching kids programming, but I what I really want to teach is computer science. It's really more about answering the "
by clp16 15y ago
The problem is that you couched this in teaching kids programming, but I what I really want to teach is computer science. It's really more about answering the "why" question for the kids and showing something that stimulates curiosity. Granted for some people this is programming, but for others it's about showing the effect of computer science and how to be a part of that effect.
- mtogo 15y agoI see, i read your question too fast. Using scratch/alice/nxt/what-have-you as a tool to show what compsci is and how it can be exciting is fantastic, i just wouldn't use it as a method for teaching programming. My bad. Another thing to look at is the Lego NXT robot, which uses very Scratch-like software (drag and drop action and control flow elements) to control a real robot that they can put together with Lego pieces. I wouldn't downplay the importance of having a python prompt or a c compiler available, though. It may not seem as exciting as drag and drop programs, but to some kids it is more exciting (it was to me when i started programming, certainly).