Ruven E Brooks wrote:
Yes, I am really asking the question, why try to teach children programming?
...
Walter Milner questions, as do I, whether there is any general
benefit in other areas to teaching programming. Yishay Mor gives
some references to work that shows that doing programming exercises
can help children learn mathematics. Is that because there's
something special about programming or just because it meant
children were spending extra time on mathematics? I would very much
like to have seen a control condition in which, instead of learning
ToonTalk, children learned Latin by studying texts about motion and
sequences. I wonder whether they might have done even better on the
mathematics than the ToonTalk group.
Walter Milner wrote:
A possible answer would be that it does something which has a
positive transfer to other areas - and that there is no evidence
that it does, or It produces better commercial programmers whne
they grow up - again no evidence
When I demonstrate to my 5-year-old how the phases of the moon
change, or how an automatic ice maker works, or we watch how a spider
catches flies, I don't follow up with a math test to see if there was
transfer. When I teach him how to ride a bicycle it is not so that
he'll grow up to be a better commercial programmer. I have no idea
what impact any one specific activity will have on him in the long
run. Rather, I trust it is good. I take pleasure in seeing him learn
something, gain an appreciation for life, see what he can accomplish,
become interested in things, to have fun!
We play around with math too, for the same reasons.
Why shouldn't programming be included in the mix of experiences a child has?
My philosophy in creating HANDS was to inspire children to see the
possibilities, to become empowered to use computers like the majority
cannot, maybe to strive to do more with them someday, and hopefully
to have fun.
Peter ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
From my (limited) knowledge of child psychology I wouldn't want to
try and teach anyone under the age of about 12-13 programming,
because you'd end up having to use a very constrained concepts and
programming techniques, and more or less run into a brick wall in
some areas until their mental development advances.
In my thesis research I had some success teaching 10-year-olds to
program. Recently my 5-year-old has showed interest after climbing on
my lap while I was checking out Scratch. It remains to be seen what
he might learn in the near future, but as long as he's interested I
will not let my limited knowledge of child psychology get in the way.
:-)
John
