Teaching Computer Programming to Underserved Kids (opens in new tab)

(indiegogo.com)

49 pointsesmooov13y ago13 comments

13 comments

Not sure if it is by design, but their website starts echoing some underscore.js tidbits if you start hammering on the keyboard: http://scriptednyc.org/

Word.

esmooovOP13y ago

Haha. I'm happy someone saw that. I wish I could say that it had something to do with my theory of Social Catamorphism, folding our disparate talents into a better future, or something. Unfortunately, no such theory exists, and I just picked a piece of code that I enjoy and looks attractive.

danso13y ago

Related: Black Girls Code http://www.blackgirlscode.com/

aaronharnly13y ago

Neat! I donated.

This semester I've been volunteering to teach middle-school students how to "program a game!" with the very wonderful Citizen Schools program[1]. We've been developing a curriculum that takes elements from the Bootstrap curriculum[2], using the Khan Academy CS environment[3]. (Yes, we've been following the back-and-forth with Bret Victor carefully.)

It's been challenging, but very rewarding, and I hope other engineers take seriously their obligation to apply some of their good fortune and education for the benefit of others.

[1] http://www.citizenschools.org/

[2] http://www.bootstrapworld.org/

[3] http://www.khanacademy.org/cs

esmooovOP13y ago

That's really excellent. It's funny, although not entirely surprising, but we have also been using parts of Khan and Bret Victor. The students seemed to really enjoy the sandbox of Khan as a starter to what is possible with code. Repl.it was a big help as well. The hard/fun part is transitioning between the experimenting and learning with these out-of-the-box tools to experimenting and learning by actually making your own stuff. I - and I'm sure the other ScriptEd folks - would love to hear more about your experience (scriptednyc@gmail.com).

charleshaanel13y ago

Mad props for your work...

gloryless13y ago

I misread the title as teaching CS to "Undeserving Kids." I thought, that's a little strange, but I wanna see how these little shits are getting some CS knowledge. But, the real idea is a good one.

bjhoops113y ago

Haha I read the exact same thing. Damn kids... don't deserve to learn recursion.

EricDeb13y ago

One thing that does concern me about these types of programs is trying to teach kids who are too young, inadvertently causing them to conclude "programming is too hard" and give up. I consider myself of average intelligence and I struggled with programming in high school. It was only because of my obstinate nature and love of computers in general that I kept pursuing it in college.

wcarss13y ago

I've been working with a group of volunteers from Freshbooks to teach to middle-school kids at the Yonge Street Mission here in Toronto. We're into our second class now - we've made some real life games to introduce concepts and have moved into using MIT's Scratch.

I've been thinking a lot about where to go next - great to hear about extra resources and that other people are doing similar stuff!

wetbrain13y ago

Anything like this in SF/Bay? I feel like there should be...

shicky13y ago

anything like this in London or Belfast?

tomblomfield13y ago

www.codeclub.org.uk

I signed up a few weeks ago and visited my local primary school for the first time this afternoon. 9-11 year olds are smaller than I remember.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

13 comments

nicpottier13y ago

Not sure if it is by design, but their website starts echoing some underscore.js tidbits if you start hammering on the keyboard: http://scriptednyc.org/

Word.

esmooovOP13y ago

danso13y ago

Related: Black Girls Code http://www.blackgirlscode.com/

aaronharnly13y ago

Neat! I donated.

It's been challenging, but very rewarding, and I hope other engineers take seriously their obligation to apply some of their good fortune and education for the benefit of others.

[1] http://www.citizenschools.org/

[2] http://www.bootstrapworld.org/

[3] http://www.khanacademy.org/cs

esmooovOP13y ago

charleshaanel13y ago

Mad props for your work...

gloryless13y ago

I misread the title as teaching CS to "Undeserving Kids." I thought, that's a little strange, but I wanna see how these little shits are getting some CS knowledge. But, the real idea is a good one.

bjhoops113y ago

Haha I read the exact same thing. Damn kids... don't deserve to learn recursion.

EricDeb13y ago

wcarss13y ago

I've been thinking a lot about where to go next - great to hear about extra resources and that other people are doing similar stuff!

wetbrain13y ago

Anything like this in SF/Bay? I feel like there should be...

shicky13y ago

anything like this in London or Belfast?

tomblomfield13y ago

www.codeclub.org.uk

I signed up a few weeks ago and visited my local primary school for the first time this afternoon. 9-11 year olds are smaller than I remember.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse