Ask HN: How best to introduce young children to computing?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21799142

by pmyteh • 7 years ago

1 2 7 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I have a four-year-old child who I'd like to gradually introduce to computing. I don't have ambitious dreams of creating a coding prodigy; I do remember a (late) childhood of games and tinkering and would like them to be able to explore the possibilities.

How have my fellow HN readers attempted this? Games first? Edutainment <shudder>? Start with an emulated Apple II and advance the state of the art at twice real-time from 1977? I'm at a loss. Your expertise or war stories would be appreciated.

arthurcolle• 7 years ago

I really liked playing with Legos when I was super young (idk maybe 5 to 12?) I feel like that primed me a bit in terms of assembling various components to achieve an end-goal. Actual computing stuff? Consider that young saplings don't have the intellectual maturity to actually grok computers until much later.

Sorry my comment doesn't help more.

jstewartmobile• 7 years ago

I think that's putting the cart before the horse. With adults, strong math and language skills have been much stronger indicators of coding performance than specific training. So pin-down the basics, and you get a potentially great coder for free!

If I recall childhood correctly, they dumped BASIC/LOGO on the class, had us grind through a few cookbook recipes, and none of it was particularly inspiring. To a kid's mind, it's like, "So, I type all of this into the computer, and all I get is a stupid circle?!" Papert is a dead-end.

Fast-forward to high school--after algebra, geometry, and calculus--and the value of the computer becomes apparent.

Ask HN: How best to introduce young children to computing?

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