Codeclub

[russell]

This is a great initiative to help idiots like myself begin to teach kids basic coding. I had made contact with an IT guy who was willing to pop in and run a basic programming course based on Scratch for 10 kids after school...but he even with initial enthusiasm...he hasnt got back to me. Any of you heard of this...or even better know of someone in Surrey who is not scared of working with kids

codeclub.org.uk/

 

[Chilly]

This is a great initiative to help idiots like myself begin to teach kids basic coding. I had made contact with an IT guy who was willing to pop in and run a basic programming course based on Scratch for 10 kids after school...but he even with initial enthusiasm...he hasnt got back to me. Any of you heard of this...or even better know of someone in Surrey who is not scared of working with kids

codeclub.org.uk/

Yeah we had someone from there come to the Betfair office to beg us techies to volunteer to teach after school clubs. The problem is that most techies are men and the press has villified men in any situation concerning children. I would do it at my nephew's school, but not anywhere random.

 

[Gwadien]

When I go in on Fridays, I get told to sort out IT lessons, because the teachers don't have a clue what to do, and nor do I, what the hell do you teach 9 year olds in ICT?

They know how to use word, powerpoint etc, but isn't coding a bit.. far?

 

[Chilly]

When I go in on Fridays, I get told to sort out IT lessons, because the teachers don't have a clue what to do, and nor do I, what the hell do you teach 9 year olds in ICT?

They know how to use word, powerpoint etc, but isn't coding a bit.. far?

Depends what you mean by coding. If you mean distributed systems and fault tolerant protocols, then yes. If you mean getting a robot to go forward 2, left 90, forward 2, right 90, forward 10 then no. I was doing that stuff when I was 8-10 at primary school using the logo turtle and the logo software to draw on the screen.

 

[Aoami]

Depends what you mean by coding. If you mean distributed systems and fault tolerant protocols, then yes. If you mean getting a robot to go forward 2, left 90, forward 2, right 90, forward 10 then no. I was doing that stuff when I was 8-10 at primary school using the logo turtle and the logo software to draw on the screen.

We did that in Secondary School, probably around year 9 actually, and it was great fun. Programming robots and traffic lights, stuff like that. I'd say some simple HTML and CSS would be fun for kids at that age... a simple 'My First Website' type thing.

 

[DaGaffer]

A friend of mine from my beeb days has set up something similar, HomeRoom, for smaller kids:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/techandgadgets/meet-the-baby-geeks-8230385.html

 

[rynnor]

My eldest learned scratch at school in year 5 and occasionally plays around with it.

At some point I will teach her assembler so she can blow the secondary school teachers minds

 

[russell]

Yeah we had someone from there come to the Betfair office to beg us techies to volunteer to teach after school clubs. The problem is that most techies are men and the press has villified men in any situation concerning children. I would do it at my nephew's school, but not anywhere random.

The teacher would be with you to protect you from the kids!

 

[russell]

We did that in Secondary School, probably around year 9 actually, and it was great fun. Programming robots and traffic lights, stuff like that. I'd say some simple HTML and CSS would be fun for kids at that age... a simple 'My First Website' type thing.

Yeah its that kind of thing. We are experimenting with a program called Scratch which is free to download.

 

[Scouse]

They know how to use word, powerpoint etc, but isn't coding a bit.. far?

Teach 'em basic computer game coding. Tell 'em how to make pacman.

 

[Aoami]

Teach 'em basic computer game coding. Tell 'em how to make pacman.

I like the idea but there must be some kind of online platform for creating basic phone/tablet apps and games, which i think would pique the interest of the youngsters more.

 

[Gwadien]

Steam for schools is in beta I think, with Portal map making missions physics and stuff and other editted stuff in it for educational purposes.