Coderdojo Inspires Coding In Kids As Young As Seven

An anonymous reader writes "With kids growing up in an increasingly digital world, it's alarming that many of them have no idea how the devices that power their lives actually work. So three cheers for Coderdojo — a worldwide group of volunteers teaching programming and web design to children aged seven and up. From the article: 'Coderdojo's format is open and inclusive. Participants can use the operating system and programming tools of their choice. There is no set curriculum and the only rule is: "Above all: be cool." More rigid approaches, he suggests, can often stifle learners' enthusiasm: "A lot of coding tuition aimed at young people tends to revolve around games," he said. "But that can disengage some young people. Many of them, particularly girls, just aren't interested in gaming. "On the other hand, doing something like developing a web site shows them that they can do things they might not have realized they were able to and combines artistic and design skills with an understanding of why things are built in a certain way."'"

One of the most eye opening things I ever did

[kilodelta]

Was to participate in program reviews in high schools all over the State of Rhode Island. I recall one classroom where they were learning the Office suite. On the particular day we were there the teacher had them doing a payroll spreadsheet, but they had to look up the tax rates on a cheat sheet.

I talked with the teacher and asked if they had any intention of teaching the kids about VBA and explained what VBA was and how it is present in every Microsoft Office application and lets you do fun things like for instance, calculate the tax, etc. The teacher looked at me with a straight face and said "Well, you need advanced math to program a computer!". I thanked her for her time.

On my review I made note of the conversation and how at the most, one might need maybe one semester of Algebra 1 but if they understood basic mathematical equations they could program.

What I heard is that my comment struck a warning bell in the school. They'd never had someone with an I.T. background review a program before. So it just flew under the radar until I made mention in the official report.