Ways to teach kids how to code

My parents signed up my thirteen year old sister for a Unity coding camp that requires some knowledge of the basics, so I'm trying to teach her how to get started. She's never coded before, and to be honest, she barely knows how to use a computer. (Today, she had to ask me how to copy and paste on something that isn't an iPad/iPhone)

So far, we've made this (http://pastebin.com/FCQTFC0N), and tomorrow I'm planning on having her make a program that determines whether or not a given integer is a prime number. I'm not too worried about her learning all of the syntax, but I want her to be able to understand how to think like a programmer in time for this camp. At the same time though, she also needs to think of what we're doing as something fun and not work forced upon her.

Have you guys ever had to teach someone how to program from scratch? What worked well for you? How long did it take for them to get the hang of things? Also, what are fun ways to get kids interested in programming?

 

I think (especially for younger kids) you need to first interest them and show them why coding is cool. If the kid is not engaged, they will have trouble learning. If they are excited to work towards something, they will be more likely to excel. It is hard to get a kid interested in coding by just getting them to look at a prime numbers program. Try relating the program example to her own interests. If she's in love with Justin Bieber work with her to make a program that spits out JB lyrics or something for her to identify the song.

I think the program you made with her today is a bit complicated for a kid if you tried to teach her this all today. Even most universities split up core concepts like variables, loops and if statements into separate classes. It is easy for her to get discouraged if you throw a lot at her at once. I think its better to make a crappy program and then teach her new concepts another day and show her how to make the previous program even better when applying those new concepts (like writing mass amounts of code and then showing her later that loops can cut that massive amount of code into a very small amount of code).

 

The thing I tell most people wanting to learn to code is to learn in pieces like KMJT was saying. It'll boggle your mind quickly if you try to take on too much at once and you'll get discouraged. So yeah, break it down into small bites for her and show her uses for new things you teach her.

 

Prime numbers for a 13 year old? Na man that shit's boring even to undergrads.

Make something cool like a game of memory or a guessing game. "Hot and cold" sort of thing.

If you're not concerned with syntax, check out SmallBasic. It's a programming language developed specifically for teaching kids.

This might be a good place to start: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/smallbasic/2008/10/23/hello-world/

 

We've started the Justin Bieber project and she's really liking it. It'll take a while to finish, but basically we're making a game where you have to guess the artist based off a song lyric. If you get it right, the song opens on youtube. I'll post it when we have more progress done on it.

And yeah, the program I posted was made over two days. She seems to be liking it though She was really excited to show my dad all the progress we've made so far when he came home from work.

Good point. I'll try to be careful about that.

Thanks for the resources And yeah, she's really enjoying making the game that KMJT suggested.

We ended up making the prime number thing because it was really short and I wanted to show her how it could be useful. We ended up putting giant numbers into it and she was really impressed. I made the for loop in this program with her help logic wise, but she made the while loop and the rest of the stuff by herself syntax and logic wise. http://pastebin.com/KXE2hV3i When we first started it, she thought it was pointless because she said that a calculator could do it too using our method, but then she realized for some numbers it would require her hitting enter on the calculator a ridiculous amount of times. Then when we ran the program for the first time and she saw how quickly it ran, she was REALLY impressed.

Thanks for the resource, I'll check it out later tonight

 

Just to give an update, my sister and I finished making the game this past Sunday and she went to the camp this week. Even though the camp claimed to require the kids to already know programming, she was by far the most experienced in the group. They made games in Unity, and they actually turned out pretty good. The biggest plus is that she's going to continue working on her game and programming even though the camp is over

I'm going to see if I can find a way to post her game online.

 

Interested to see it.

 

I started with the Vex robotics kits in high school.

You build a robot with various sensors, then use "robot c" to program them to do various tasks.

You start with go straight, turn right, etc.

Then you quickly move onto navigating through an obstacle course. Figuring out tasks like using sensor values to correct for the robot tending to drift off to the left or to the right.

Here is a code snippet

Code:

#pragma config(Sensor, dgtl1,  rightEncoder,  sensorQuadEncoder)
#pragma config(Sensor, dgtl3,  leftEncoder,  sensorQuadEncoder)
#pragma config(Sensor, dgtl7,  bumperSwitch,  sensorTouch)
#pragma config(Sensor, dgtl8,  sonarSensor,  sensorSONAR_cm)
#pragma config(Sensor, dgtl10, frontLimit,  sensorTouch)
#pragma config(Motor,  port2,  rightMotor,  tmotorServoContinuousRotation, openLoop)
#pragma config(Motor,  port3,  leftMotor,  tmotorServoContinuousRotation, openLoop, reversed)
#pragma config(Motor,  port6,  armMotor,  tmotorServoStandard, openLoop)
void halt()
{

motor[rightMotor] = 0;
motor[leftMotor] = 0;
wait1Msec(500);
}

void moveStraight(int encoderCount)
{
SensorValue[rightEncoder] =0;
SensorValue[leftEncoder] =0;

while(SensorValue[leftEncoder] < encoderCount)
{

if(SensorValue[leftEncoder] > SensorValue[rightEncoder])
{
motor[rightMotor] = 67;
motor[leftMotor] = 74;
}
if(SensorValue[rightEncoder] > SensorValue[leftEncoder])  //move forward out of robotics door
{
motor[rightMotor] = 67;
motor[leftMotor] = 81;
}
if(SensorValue[leftEncoder] == SensorValue[rightEncoder])
{
motor[rightMotor] = 68;
motor[leftMotor] = 63;
}
}

}

What if the robot hits the wall? How do you get it back on course?

What if it tips over? Can you engineer and program a fix? Etc.



Might be worth looking into, as the visual aspect can help keep things clear. Also gives some amount of motivation when you're trying to make the robot complete some specific task.

 

When I was 13 a friend on mine on Powerbot taught me Java, you just really have to want to learn it and put the effort it.

When learning programming I really found it helped to work towards a goal, even if it's be a simple program. It all helps and you gradually get better and better.

I think you should get her to make a program that she has the idea for and review the code yourself to correct any mistakes.

 

Ahhh I remember robotics club when I was in grade 6 it was the best aha. This was over 13 years ago. We didn't do any coding though, the program was all visual drag and drop (like sensing stuff, turning the robot). To be honest I probably would have lost interest if there was any coding at the time. I remember when our robotics team went to compete against other schools to navigate through an obstacle course the fastest =D We got destroyed.