Sunday, September 30, 2012

Programming

Should kids learn to code in Grade School?



1.  Click on Mind/Shift.  Read the short article.  Share below your general thoughts or feelings on what you read.  

2.  Consider this: do you think that learning to write code might become as important as learning to write an essay in school?   Why or why not?  

 3.  Click on any offsite link on the page.  What did you select?   What did you discover? 

36 comments:

  1. 1.) This is amazing! Having students in grades as low as forth grade program is excellent! The more programmers we have the faster our Technology can evolve (of course that's just a theory).

    2.)Yes, learning to write code is going to become as important than learning to write an essay at school because our entire world is starting to revolve around computers. More and more people are learning to program, and its best to start at a young age.

    3.) I clicked on "Check out the games" in the third paragraph. I discovered that kids make awesome little games! Learning something like programming at a young age in a short class period is something to brag about. They are learning the same vocabulary and concepts I was in seventh grade! Most of the games are based around Math (so is programming, their math games are not just fun making but they also will help them in their other classes such as Math.

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  2. 1. i love that people are taking advantage of how kids learn and retain knowledge better then adults do.

    2. i think that if everyone knew how to write code, everyone would be better with computers and it would help further humans technologically.

    3. i clicked on 5 ways to teach kids to program and it talks about, suprisingly, how to tach kids to program from a very young age.

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  3. 1.Its perfect, with students as low as forth grade with this system. They can think faster than some adults.

    2.Yes, I think that learning to write a code will bring our technology up a step.

    3.I clicked check out this game. It was amazing those games where fun especially because they where made by a young kids

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  4. 1) I dont think all kids should learn code, some kids will try and be funny and mess with stuff

    2)At one point in time in the future it will probably be as important but at this day no it is not as important

    3) I clicked on why should fifth graders learn to program, it showed me a few reasons and things they should learn to program

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  5. 1) I think its perfect that kids will know more about something then most or more adults.

    2) i think that if everyone knew how to write code, everyone would be better with computers and it would help further humans technologically.

    3) I clicked on 5 ways to teach kids to program and it talks about, suprisingly, how to tach kids to program from a very young age.


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  6. 1) I think that this is a great idea. I started learning to code HTML and CSS when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Now I am learning how to code other languages and I wished that I learned a lot more when I was younger.

    2) I can imagine that people who don't have access to computers will not find them as 'scary' if they knew how to code.

    3) coming soon

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    Replies
    1. 3) I clicked on Girls Who Code. This program helps to equip girls with skills needed in the technology and engineering jobs. They have developed a new model for computer science education, pairing intensive instruction in robotics, web design, and mobile development with mentoring led my female entrepreneurs. I'm considering joining the movement!

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  7. 1. I think that it is a good idea to start kids that early so that they can appreciate the internet and not abuse the privilege

    2. I imagine that if people can learn how to learn we would be on the computer more to do more interesting things with your

    3. I chose girls who code I learned about what they do thy do: Together with leading educators, engineers, and entrepreneurs, Girls Who Code has developed a new model for computer science education, pairing intensive instruction in robotics, web design, and mobile development with high-touch mentorship led by the industry's top female developers and entrepreneurs.

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  8. 1. I like the idea of teaching kids in elementary school how to program because with how fast technology is advancing more people might have to know how to progtam.

    2. I do thing programing will be as important as writing essays in the future because of the progressive advancements in technology.

    3. I clicked on "check out the games" and the games were amazing. I'm very impresed that kids had the tallent to make them. I tried to play a few but my computer wouldn't let me.

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  9. 1. I think the idea of teaching elementary school students to program is awesome. I envy being in Elementary school now, because that would have made school my favorite place to be in that case.

    2. I don't think making kids learn to program should be emphasized as much as writing an essay or something because an essay exploits communication skills which everyone needs when they grow up, while programming isn't necessarily everyone's cup of tea.

    3. I clicked on the link that said, "Check out the games built by students" just to see what kind of games they could have made. They're semi-impressive for elementary school students, although I don't know what kind of programming language scratch is.

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  10. 1. Coding is really difficult, and very hard to understand and frustrating to learn. Kids need to be kids in elementary school, and I do not think it would be good to thrust them right in to something as foreign as programming.
    2. Writing an essay is more important in school than writing code because you do that for your entire life, from writing college essays, to writing reports in your job. At the moment, coding is not very important because only a small group of people uses it.
    3. I selected "5 Tools to Introduce Programming to Kids" and learned about different ways that teachers and parents are throwing their kids into programming.

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  11. 1. Coding is a very difficult and long process, so trying to get elementary school kids to do it is a bit extreme. Introducing them to it couldn't hurt, but it's too early to be showing kids how to program in elementary school.

    2. Although technology is advancing, writing essays is much more important that writing code. You need to write essays for college, classes, jobs, etc. How often would you need to use a code writing? Even when computers become the only thing used in schools, writing the code for them will not be important to know.

    3. I clicked on these excellent games and it showed that they were making educational games. I think that that is a great idea and a great way to use your programming abilities.

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  12. 1. This is awesome!!!! I would have loved to learn code in elementary school. It would help me so much today. Plus learning code early introduces students to something more then the usual school program. It could get students more interested in school.
    2.

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  13. 1. Coding does not have to be difficult. Kids can learn programming at their own level, at their own pace and they can program just the things they are interested in. The problem with being a kid is that you hear that something is "difficult" and you believe that it is because you think other people are smarter, older, more experienced than you. But you can never know that about anyone. You always have to think, "Maybe I can do what they say is hard." Then sometime you might you see an programming class, but it may be an advanced class, when really you should see a class at your level with a great teacher. Like, if you show up for basketball tryouts and all the other kids have been to basketball camp all summer and the coach is a big macho intimidating kind of guy: you will think Basketball is hard. But if you had a cool, laid back coach and friendly teammates who showed you cool things, you may see basketball as part of your life. Same with programming. Same with everything. We got to try things many times, look for the right situation and see how this new skill might enrich our lives.

    2. Coding and essay writing are equally important, and for all the same reasons. Essay writing is a tool. You will need to express yourself, persuade others and help other's do the same in order to have a successful career. In today's world, you need a digital way of persuading people, of getting information across. If you don't know how to program you wil need to hire someone. So if your love is saving the rain forest, or promoting your music event, you can't just whip up your own web page or cool engaging interactive game...

    3. I know kids can program great things, I have played them! Games and computer programs are like books. You think we would run out of ideas, but we never do!

    The thing about programming is that there are many languages, many types of things to make, and then there is HTML which isn't even a code. There is also 3D modeling which isn't coding but really digital art.... If you try one thing and don't like it, try another. And then try another. You are not friends with every person you meet, so you won't be excited by every language or project you start. Keep trying new things!

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  14. 1.) I too believe that we all should learner programing to better our education. This would benefit all students in the futur when applying for a job. It will help students with learning more and more complicated computer programs that might present them selves in the futur.

    2.) I think in the futur it might help greatly but or right now it would not help me very much because it would be a complex subject that might make it harder for me to do school. The only reason it would make it harder is because I would have to remember all of the possible things in programing and it would make it harder to remember school important items.

    3.) i clicked on the games that the kids made and what i found was that these kids made some pretty cool games. One of the math games that i played made me use a calculator. Another i could not figure out one of the problems. It drove me CRAZY!!!! The cat game where you have to click on the cats wassuper addicting!

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  15. 1. I think as long as their letting the kids learn at their own pace then i think its great. But programming is like another language. I dont think they should push them too hard.

    2. Yes. Technology is going really fast these days and i think soon everything we do is going to be on the computer so learning anything on the computer will help them now.

    3. i selected a link telling me that their are already some 6th graders that know more about computers than i do.

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  16. 1. Kids learning more than the past kids below 4th grade is amazing, shows how more intelligent every generation can get.

    2. We have been writing essays all throughout school, so Im just used to that.

    3. The games link is impressive on how little kids make games.

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  17. 1. Kids should totally learn how to code, in this age of the digital world, coding is a important skill to have at a younger age.

    2. i think essays are still more important than coding, it most likely won't be for long but as of the moment essays still help you learn more about speech and sounding more informed than coding would.

    3. I clicked on the link "What’s Inside Your Computer? These 6th-Graders Can Tell you" i think its very impressive that schools are doing this now, i wish i could of had a jump start on it when i was that age.

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  18. 1. I was very interested in what the article told. I was surprised with the way programming was being taught and received. I also find this very exciting in that coding has the ability to become a much more mainstream activity or even occupation.

    2. Programming languages are just that, languages. While English or other communicative languages are used for academics or basic communication. Programming languages are used in different, but similarly important functions. These functions effectively control everything there ever was or is to do with technology. While writing an essay may be important for communication of ideas, writing code is equally necessary, being used to give life to all technology.

    3. I clicked on the article link to the games created by the children taught to code. I discovered how well these kids had received what they were taught. The games were incredible considering how these children went to class once a week and had little to no ability to study at home. This clearly shows just how feasible and well received coding is.

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  19. 1. I think this is great we are going to need to know this stuff eventually why not just add it on to a middle school curriculum. other schools are doing it and it works why shouldn't they all do it.
    2.yes it will computers are a part of the workforce and int that what school is to prepare us for. this would just be learning a skill employers are really looking for.
    3.is elected a gaming like and i found out they were games programed by 4th graders. kids who cant write an essay just programed a game something most college students cant do

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  20. 1. I think it's a good idea to teach children to code. They did it in a town where many of the families were poor, so to teach the children something that opens many career pathways is awesome. The schools are setting up the kids for success in the techology area, which is only gowing to grow.
    2. Code is not as important as writing essays. Language skills are still very important in today's world. For exaple, colloege courses nearly all require students to write papers. Essays often prove a persons knowledge on something. So if the kids can program something, what good does it do if they can't write a paper on how they do it.
    3. I clicked the "these exellent games" link. It has about 20 different games all made by kids. Its amazing how a bunch of elementary schoolers made them. They made math games, dance games, pacman games, and "catch the fish" games. Some even made animated holiday cards. After seeing this webpage, I know i underestimated the children. I did not expect the games to be anything really, and not creative at all.

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  21. 1. I think it is a Great idea to push towards in the near future. If it has a proven succes rate than why not do it? Technology is always going to be with society so building on to these skills is important.
    2. Even though i think this skill would be important it doesnt compare to writing essay.. Engish makes people analytical thinkers where as code makes people single minded.
    3. I clicked on the "codenow" link and i learned that there are many orgainsations who push for code in schools...

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  22. 1. It's great that coding is being treated as a school subject, it is becoming a more valuable skill as time goes on!
    2. This skill is just as important as math and English, as a lot of jobs, and as research suggests, a lot more in the future, that will require coding as a skill. That said, it would be good to have that skill, like you would reading or math, instead of having to take an extra course in college to get a job.
    3. I learned that many students are already designing educational games with their programming skills, and reinforcing other subjects in the process.

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  23. 1. With the speed current technology is increasing at I think that this is an excellent idea. As human society makes advancements more information needs to be taught in a shorter a mount of time. So it makes sense to add this in to elementary education as knowing computers is becoming a much more valuable skill.
    2. I don't think it will become important enough to surpass writing skills but it will certainly be an important skill in the future. This is because essay writing is such an important tool in just about every career someone could choose, whereas programming is only used to its full potential in computer related careers.
    3. I clicked on the link that lead to the page where the kids games were displayed. I found it pretty impressive that elementary school kids were able to develop them.

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  24. 1. I think that programming is an amazing thing to teach children because they would be able to create a program that could write an essay for them. 0.o
    2. It's just as important to have a child learn to program as it is to write an essay. When I was their age, I would have DREAMED of being able to program. Sure, a nice hand written settlement is nice, but so is learning binary or python. It's just about perspective I suppose.
    3. I clicked on their facebook page and discovered that mind/shift has over 9000 likes on their page. (:

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  25. 1.) I think that its a a great thing to be teaching younger students to program. I also think it will help society advance.
    2.) I think learning to write a code will become as important as learning to write an essay in some classes but not in all of them. I think some classes it will be improtant because technology is advancing and that means that students will be required to use and have a greater knowledge of technology.
    3.) I chose the CodeNow link and I learned that CodeNow teaches "underreprestented" high school students how to code for free.

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  26. 1. After reading the article, I found that they basically are saying anyone can learn programming with the proper mindset. I completely disagree with this because most kids would not want to. Take the project we are doing now for instance, programming isn't the most popular but it still is cool. A lot of points the article makes, in my opinion, are not realistic.


    2. While learning to write code would be awesome and helpful in many different ways, I don't think it is as important as say writing an essay. Analytical essays can be a great way of expressing thoughts and intellectually great. While code is a hard concept, it is important but only in the technology world.


    3. I clicked on girls who code, being that I am a girl and I know how most girls would feel in reference to something as difficult as code. Girls who code is a movement dedicated to making women in the tech world more prominent. I think this is a GREAT site. Personally, I think girls are intimidated easily and this could really help "shyer" girls. Engineering is a great occupation but only 14% are women and I find that ridiculous.

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  27. !. I think that the younger generation is being thought at such an early stage is great for our future.
    2. yes due to more computers means that you have to know how to fix something within the computers code.
    3.I clicked on Coursa and found my Gamification project So i think that coursas a big part in the younger generations learning

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  28. 1I think the younger generation will be able to learn code with ease, as the younger generation can learn language with ease.
    2I do not think it will be as important because everyone will need to write, but not everyone willend up needing to code.
    3Should we connect school life with real life? I learned how this idea is along the lines of gamification, as it is if connecting two ideas that have not been really connected into one.

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  29. 1. I think its cool that they are going to introduce Programing into Class they will get a good head start with learning to program and It will make it easier on them if they want to go into that field of expertise

    2. I think it will not grow that big as like writing a essay but it will be right below it in importance

    3. I clicked on the Games that the Kids programmed I think there very cool and with a little work the kids could be very good at Programming

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  30. 1. I think it's cool that they are trying to get schools into computer science. Everything is technology nowadays.

    2.No, because coding is technology.

    3. I selected a tech museum. I discovered that the myth busters host this i think and it's in CA.

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  31. 1.) oh heck yeah, it is awesome to learn. it is going to be so useful if i ever need to use Python.

    2.) probably not, literacy is important:)

    3.) i clicked the site where 5th graders are learning to program, i think thats awesome and it will be a great skill to learn and be comfortable with in high school.

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  32. 1.i think it is awsome that noprofit companies are teaching kids in technoligical siences.

    2.i think that if we have more people learnig how to program then we would advance in technology at a faster rate.

    3.i clicked on 5 Tools to Introduce Programming to Kids and found out that they thoght it is necessary for students how to turn on, log on, search the Web, and use applications.

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  34. 1. I think its great that people are realizing coding is a skill that should be taught at school and a skill needed for the future.

    2. No, pretty much everyone has to write in there life time, but not everyone will need to code in there life.

    3. I read an article about Ten things that should be obsolete in school. They said that computer labs should be done away with. They said that being connected should be like a pencil and not a microscope.

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  35. 1I think coding should be an option to take in school, but not everybody should take it as not everyone is interested in coding.

    2No, writing an essay is not about learning how to write, but learning how to collect evidence and produce an argument. That can be applied to any situation, and helps develop healthy thought processes. Coding is limited to technology and computers, and is not as useful.

    3I chose a link on how computers are changing classrooms. I know firsthand the benefits of using computers because in my english class we do everything on a computer. We use it to write discussion answers, take notes, share documents, take tests, and without using paper we are becoming more organized, saving money and saving the environment. Computers are awesome in classrooms.

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