After using Mindstorms a bit at my school I'm not too sure about their value as introductions to programming. The kids I have coming through seem to have done b

After using Mindstorms a bit at my school I'm not too sure about their value as introductions to programming. The kids I have coming through seem to have done better things after being introduced via something like Scratch (or Gamemaker) where there isn't a break between what they code and how they get it to work. ie for Mindstorms you need to physically build something that is capable of doing the job that your program requires. A surprising number of students either didn't have the interest in that aspect or were unable to build what they had in mind. (Also the Mindstorms software is awful.)