Why is it important for children to learn to program?

What I love about teaching programming to children is that it engages the student that loves to draw and the one that loves to program.

Programming with Scratch allows children to see their own creations come to life and they love having that sort of authorship.

 In addition, when programming children learn to: think critically, solve problems, confidently express themselves with technology and much more.

 "Everyone in this country should learn how to program a computer...because it teaches you how to think." -Steve Jobs

 Check out these videos on why children should learn to program.








“They are not just learning to code, they are coding to learn. In addition to learning mathematical and computational ideas (such as variables and conditionals), they are also learning strategies for solving problems, designing projects, and communicating ideas. These skills useful not just for computer scientists but for everyone, regardless of age, background, interests, or occupation..”

-Mitch Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab

Read this article to learn more from Mitch Resnick on the benefits of programming. 

To learn about Scratch go to the website.

Sixth day of 8th grade Technology/Design class, Move Project Day III/Collectible Game Day I

Today my classes started completing their Move Projects and then began working on their new projects, which is a simple collectible game like the attached one below.  It's an example I made for my class to see what they will be making.  First click on the green flag and then click on the arrows to move the protagonist around.  Then try to touch the fish while avoiding the broom.  Good luck!

Fifth day of 8th grade Technology/Design class, Move Project Day II

Today I taught another set of kids the same lesson that I taught yesterday. They are continuing to work on the Move Project which they are almost done programming.  It's amazing to see how a group of kids can begin my class with no prior experience to programming and then at their own pace they begin venturing off in their own directions programming their own ideas. All of my students have different ways of learning but at the end of today I am proud to say they learned something new about programming in my class today.

Below you can see an example of a finished project.  Just click on the green flag to watch the popcorn come to life.  Also, below you will find images of Move projects that are in progress.

                                                                                         

                               Move project, 8th grader, August 19th

Detail of Move Project (in progress), 8th grader,
August 19th

Move Project (in progress), 8th grader,
August 19th

Move Project (in progress), 8th grader,
August 19th

Fourth day of 8th grade Technology/Design class, Move Project Day II

Today was an exciting day because the students learned to program their sprites to change costumes.  They are becoming familiar with the interface and feeling comfortable expressing themselves with technology!  Below is a very successful project.  Just click on the green flag to view it and follow the directions. Make sure to have your sound on because there is music. My favorite part of this project was watching the students come up with something to animate. I gave them an example of a bird and some took that idea and others came up with something completely different. I learned that it really is important to give them time to explore the interface and play with the tools so that they can learn play.

Third day of 8th grade Technology/Design class, Move Project Day I

The beauty of teaching the same class multiple times is that I can improve my lesson each time I reteach it.  Today I taught the same lesson (Move Project, Day 1) three times.  The lesson is a part of a two day project.  The final project should look like this example:



Yesterday I taught this lesson two times.  After teaching the class a second time I had a comfortable rhythm of teaching it and understood how much could be completed in the given time of the class.

Students familiarizing themselves with the Scratch interface,
8th grade class, August 15, 2014

The session involved getting to know the Scratch interface and beginning to program.  Again, I focused on the words "Interface, program, programming, sprite and background".  The goal was for the students to familiarize themselves with the Scratch interface and it's tools.  In addition, they learned to form programs and to understand the different uses of the block categories.  Motion, and Control were the ones we focused on for this part of the project.

I was very pleased to see the students get really passionate about their sprite drawings and programming the movement of their sprite.  Here are some of the drawings the students made today:

Sprite and background drawing, 8th grader,
August 15, 2014

Sprite and background drawing, 8th grader,
August 15, 2014

Sprite and background drawing, 8th grader,
August 15, 2014

It always amazes me to see that every group of students I teach has a different vibe to them.  One class is super interested in drawing and designing animations.  Another one is very into programming video games only.  I find it to be an fun challenge to address all of the different needs of the groups; to teach them while keeping them engaged, is the balance that I always try to achieve as a teacher.

One important factor that I include in every class is a recap on what they learned in the previous class and a reflection on what they learned that day.  Normally it is done verbally but in one class I managed to get them to write it down.  Here is one students comment on the last class they had with me:

Student reflection on last class, 8th grader,
August 15, 2014

Next lesson they will program the changing of the costumes of the sprite so that they can control the movement of it's limbs.  I am confident they will be happy with their finished projects and I cannot wait to see them.

Second day of 8th grade Technology/Design class, Move Project Day I

Today the students got to use the Scratch program!  I demonstrated the use of the various tools in Scratch by projecting the steps on the wall.  After I gave the demo the students tested them out on their own computers.  We focused on the words "interface, programming, programs, sprite and background" because I want them to describe what they are doing with clear terms, and not use "thing or stuff".  In addition, they drew their own sprites and backgrounds, and programmed their sprites to move around.  Below you can see some of the projects from today.

Move Sprite project, 8th grader, August 14th

Move Sprite project

Sprite and background drawing, 8th grader, August 14th

Move Sprite project
Sprite and background drawing, 8th grader, August 14th

Move Sprite project
Sprite and background drawing, 8th grader, August 14th

In total I taught two classes today, one class with a projector and another one without a projector.  It is by far easier to teach a programming class with a projector where everyone can see at the same time how to use the interface.  It was good to have both experiences BUT projector is the way to go for me.

There is still more to do to complete this project!  I will post the completed projects when they are ready.

First day of 8th grade Technology/Design class

Today went really well! The students responded positively to the idea of the programming course and they enjoyed playing with Scratch (a programming language created by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab) and talking about programming.  Since it was the first day, we had an ice breaker, talked about the expectations of the course, viewed some of the projects they will be creating and talked about programming in general.

8th grade students viewing a project they will create in the class,
August 13th

It was a good day and I can tell they will enjoy programming.  I'm looking foreword to seeing the many projects they create!

Scratch@MIT Conference and my poster presentation, August 6-8, 2014

The Scratch@MIT Conference was tiring and encouraging. One of the reasons it was tiring was that it was information overload.  It was encouraging because  I met many people that were interested in using Scratch and the MIT Media lab had a buzzing energy that could not be avoided.  Robots and ideas were found in every part of the building.

Projects in the MIT Media Lab (Boston, MA),
August 7th

As far as my presentation- Many people showed interest in the programming course I designed for students in the State of Mexico.  Interestingly enough many of those that showed interest were Spanish speakers.  As a matter of fact, I probably spoke 80% Spanish during the 90 minutes we had to present our project.  Another reason the conference was exhausting was I stayed up late every night working on my zines, video and photos for the presentation.  In all I was happy that I presented because if the many people that I met.

My presentation "Scratch Curriculum for Mexico"
at the Scratch@MIT Conference (Boston, MA)
August 8th

I was hoping to meet more teaching artists that were combing design and programming but the majority of people were programmers or teachers that primarily focused on programming.  My course definitely focuses on programming but originality of drawings and story is a big part of the course as well.

I wish there was a conference that was for teaching artists where it combines technology and art.  Perhaps the NAEA will start incorporating more technology, art and design in the talks given in the conference.

I left the Scratch@MIT Conference with one great new idea on how to use Scratch for older kids.  The project idea was giving to me by a workshop I attended called "Sensing Me" and it was given by a group of people from The Warwick University from Coventry, England.  The workshop talked about how to hardware and software interact and it focused on sensors.  I'm looking foreword to the many possibilities that Picoboards allow me.

Picoboard project connected to Scratch,
by a group from The University of Warwick (Coventry, England),
The sensors can detect colors
and allows for a simon says type of game in Scratch,
Scratch@MIT Conference (Boston, MA),
August 8th

Also, they did handout the new curriculum book, Creative Computing, at the conference which was the best resource distributed at the event.

Flying to Boston from Mexico City for the Scratch@MIT Conference

Me and the Scratch piñata that I made,
August 6th

At the Benito Juarez airport in Mexico City waiting to catch my flight to Boston, MA for my poster presentation for the Scratch@MIT Conference 2014.