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I agree that I am in bubble, in that I teach in a UK secondary school. My job is to get kids excited about computing and for them to see what an amazing subject

I agree that I am in bubble, in that I teach in a UK secondary school. My job is to get kids excited about computing and for them to see what an amazing subject computer science can be. The way I tackle this is to show them how through code, they can take a complicated problem and make it trivial to solve. As an arbitrary example, take Quick Sort. Trying to explain the algorithm to someone who doesn't know how to code is exceptionally difficult. Once they practically understand recursion, then it becomes simple. I completely agree with you that CT is exceptionally valuable. My issue is with the timeline. I personally feel (and I am completely open to the idea that I might be wrong, given my inexperience), that we should be teaching kids to code first and then CT afterwards. CT, without the benefit a knowledge of programming or University level mathematics, is a little pointless.

j2kun 12y ago
Yes, but teaching them protocols and network infrastructure? I can't think of a worse way to get them excited. That being said, I think Quick Sort is a lousy sorting algorithm for teaching. Mergesort and Treesort are much better.
jacquesm 12y ago
If you want kids to learn how to code make games with them. It's by far the most approachable subject and it doesn't take long until a game of any complexity allows you to slowly introduce more serious material. I'm pretty sure there were only two phases in my career when I jumped a level (or two) up in capabilities in a very short time, the first was when I was a professional games programmer, the second when I wrote an operating system. I would strongly recommend against the second ;)
- pbhjpbhj 12y ago
  Except you have to call them stories, just in case some girls might be put off ... eg http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/How_to_encourage_girls http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/How_to_encourage_girls. [It's relevant because all the "communities" mentioned in the post promote girls as deserving special treatment that is not offered to boys. Either overtly or less conspicuously - code.org and coderdojo make special notes on how to encourage girls but no special notes on how to encourage boys that I can find (please correct me). I'm not saying you shouldn't consider that some children might prefer a story-based approach (boys and girls); a specific active/physical approach might be preferred by some children, or ... ]

j2kun 12y ago

Yes, but teaching them protocols and network infrastructure? I can't think of a worse way to get them excited. That being said, I think Quick Sort is a lousy sorting algorithm for teaching. Mergesort and Treesort are much better.

jacquesm 12y ago

If you want kids to learn how to code make games with them. It's by far the most approachable subject and it doesn't take long until a game of any complexity allows you to slowly introduce more serious material. I'm pretty sure there were only two phases in my career when I jumped a level (or two) up in capabilities in a very short time, the first was when I was a professional games programmer, the second when I wrote an operating system. I would strongly recommend against the second ;)

pbhjpbhj 12y ago
Except you have to call them stories, just in case some girls might be put off ... eg http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/How_to_encourage_girls http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/How_to_encourage_girls. [It's relevant because all the "communities" mentioned in the post promote girls as deserving special treatment that is not offered to boys. Either overtly or less conspicuously - code.org and coderdojo make special notes on how to encourage girls but no special notes on how to encourage boys that I can find (please correct me). I'm not saying you shouldn't consider that some children might prefer a story-based approach (boys and girls); a specific active/physical approach might be preferred by some children, or ... ]