Re: Programming languages for the very young

From: Darin Johnson (darin__at__usa_._net)
Date: 01/28/04 

Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 05:57:23 GMT

Jerry Petrey <"jdpetrey<NOSPAM>"@raytheon.com> writes:

> I would certainly agree with you on Logo. It is a great language for kids (or
> even adults). I used to teach some introductory computer classes to kids in
> the 8 - 11 years old range using Logo and they loved it and caught on fast.

The turtle graphics part should be great, even for older learners of
programming. When I first learned in college, and later proctored in
the lab for others, we had turtle graphics, and I think it really
helped. At the very least it gets away from the same old boring
beginner programs where one computes arithmetic or writes a "Hello, my
name is $name" sorts of stuff.

It's simple enough that you can do complicated graphics with very
little work, and without knowing more advanced techniques. You can
also quickly see the results of what's going on, and relate what is
seen with what was written in the program. Ie, I think students learn
what recursion better by drawing factorial curves than by computing
factorials.

Another interesting system for kids might be Lego Mindstorms. It uses
a graphical programming environment (ie, drag blocks around as opposed
to writing code). It might not be good for the "very young" though,
probably better for pre-teen and up. Someone did report though that
their child just wanted to build stuff with the Legos and wasn't
interested in the programming part. 

-- 
Darin Johnson
    Support your right to own gnus.

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