TravelingChris Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 So my 13 yo went on the Women in Engineering site and found what courses are needed to be taken in high school. Most were already things I was planning and had done with the other two, non science major kids. But neither one of them did computer programming in high school. She will need this and my question is what kind of background does she need to do this and any recommendations of what I should use? None of us are programmers here although my son does do a little on his own and I think dh took some class maybe 20 some years ago. She has done programming in robotics this year. I am not sure what kind of programming is right for engineering but do understand that some type is useful. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkholland Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I have a ds 15 who is interested in engineering of some kind. He is a math whiz and my husband, who went to GA Tech, said he really needs some kind of programming to prepare him to engineering in college. We decided to sign him up at The Potters School for their Computer Programming Basic I. It sounds like just the kind of course to get him started. My other son did his own "programming light" class and worked through the book called Computer Programming Pure and Simple I & II. He is not interested in engineering, but wanted to know about some programming. This course uses the Logo programming language. He made some games and wrote some HTML code. Plus he just worked through it at his own pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in CA Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Hi Chris, My older son took a few computer classes at our local CC during his sophomore year of high school. After Intro to CIS (very good course) he took Intro to JAVA and then Intro to C. Since your daughter has had some experience programming with robotics (are you involved with FIRST robotics?), she might like to try Java. Hopefully one of the actual programmer moms here will chime in and tell us the proper sequence! Blessings, April Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I have a ds 15 who is interested in engineering of some kind. He is a math whiz and my husband, who went to GA Tech, said he really needs some kind of programming to prepare him to engineering in college. We decided to sign him up at The Potters School for their Computer Programming Basic I. It sounds like just the kind of course to get him started. My son took the Comp Prog I course a couple of years ago with Mr. Madison at Potters School and really enjoyed the course. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 My son (just turned 13) is in his 3rd year of programming classes with Potter's and we have been very pleased. He took Mr Gray's Logo to Lego course (jr hi, so too young for your daughter), and Web Design and Python with Mr Connor. Python is a good language to know, as is Java. My son will probably take either Java or Data Structures & Algorithms next year with Potter's. (I have heard great things about Mr Madison's courses, but my son wasn't interested in Visual Basic; it's an intro course & he was more advanced; and plus, we didn't have a PC at the time, just Macs.) ~Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 If your daughter has zero knowledge of computer programming, start her with Scratch, follow with Alice. Scratch will not take a full year, although you could if you wanted to. You can push Scratch quite far, but I believe the return on investment diminishes with time. A 13 yo would spend a month or two on Scratch, and get the concepts down, with fun instead of frustration. Alice will push it quite a bit further. I'd spend maybe half a year on Alice. Once those are known, then anything else would be ok for engineering school. You know, I'm getting more and more tempted in starting an online computer programming class. I'm coaching my 9yo daughter in Scratch and my 12yo son in Alice already... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Ds did: Intro to Computers Web Design/HTML &CSS(HTML for the World Wide Web. Castro) Intro to Java Script (Programming with Java in 24 Hours. Cavenhead) Web Programming/PHP/MYSQL(PHP and MYSQL for Dynamic Websites. Ullman) These were all on his own, with books from Border's and hours upon hours of time, that I just decided he should get credit for. He's somewhat driven about computers though; I wouldn't try it with a less motivated student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Just found this site. http://www.dickbaldwin.com/tocHomeSchool.htm It's a series of tutorials. The guy starts with Scratch programming, moves on to Alice programming, then Java and lastly C++ It very much matches my approach to learning programming. I like it ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CherylG Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 :iagree: She's been using it for years-off and on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 Wow, people, thanks so much. As I said before, this is all a new world for me and for my husband since when we were in college, we only knew one kid with a PC and it was a radio shack very early kind. We were still using typewriters to write papers. I think that my dh might have taken a programming class but probably in a language that isn't used anymore since this was over 25 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I don't know how many summer engineering camps for teens there are (although I did see this list), but this is one I know of -- Camp CAEN at the University of Michigan; here is what they study: C++ Programming (Intro/Intermediate/Advanced), C# Programming, Game Development, Web Programming, Flash Animation, Web Graphics, and 3D Modeling and Rendering/ Virtual Reality. Maybe this will give you some ideas about what similar teens are doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS in MD Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I don't know how many summer engineering camps for teens there are (although I did see this list), but this is one I know of -- Camp CAEN at the University of Michigan; here is what they study: C++ Programming (Intro/Intermediate/Advanced), C# Programming, Game Development, Web Programming, Flash Animation, Web Graphics, and 3D Modeling and Rendering/ Virtual Reality. Maybe this will give you some ideas about what similar teens are doing? Thanks for the Johns Hopkins link - this is local for us, and looks like a great opportunity for dd (when she's a hs sophomore)... I'll keep it tucked in the back of my head! ... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS in MD Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Just found this site. http://www.dickbaldwin.com/tocHomeSchool.htm It's a series of tutorials. The guy starts with Scratch programming, moves on to Alice programming, then Java and lastly C++ It very much matches my approach to learning programming. I like it ;) Thanks for the link! Our dd will be in 9th grade in the fall and I wanted her to try a beginning computer sci course. This may fit the bill, but would you consider "starting w/Scratch", Moving to "Alice", "Java/Greenfoot", and "OOP" (all 4) all be completed in one year for 1 high school credit? High school territory is new to us, and I'm not sure what constitutes 1 high school credit... Also, on a transcript would this be called "Intro to Computer Programming"? Hope this makes sense... Thanks for your help (and the link!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 Our dd will be in 9th grade in the fall and I wanted her to try a beginning computer sci course. This may fit the bill, but would you consider "starting w/Scratch", Moving to "Alice", "Java/Greenfoot", and "OOP" (all 4) all be completed in one year for 1 high school credit? I am unfamiliar with what constitutes a high school credit in the States. However, I would be satisfied if a 9th grader does Scratch *and* Alice from September to Christmas Break, and then Java *or* C++ for the remainder of the year. *I* would consider that a high school credit for sure. At that level, Scratch can be done in about a month. Alice will take the programming notions a step further and introduce (just introduce mind you) syntax. Alice will definitely introduce OOP (so does Scratch, but not in an explicit way). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS in MD Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I am unfamiliar with what constitutes a high school credit in the States. However, I would be satisfied if a 9th grader does Scratch *and* Alice from September to Christmas Break, and then Java *or* C++ for the remainder of the year. *I* would consider that a high school credit for sure. At that level, Scratch can be done in about a month. Alice will take the programming notions a step further and introduce (just introduce mind you) syntax. Alice will definitely introduce OOP (so does Scratch, but not in an explicit way). Thanks for the insight... it gives me a clearer picture of what a typical pace might be... If dd wants to do more cs courses after this (I'm looking ahead here!) What do you think would be the "next" typical course? -- more C programming or C++ or Java... ? Thanks again for taking the time to answer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_l_e_0..Q_c Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 If dd wants to do more cs courses after this (I'm looking ahead here!) What do you think would be the "next" typical course? -- more C programming or C++ or Java... ? Well, I didn't think much about this, except in the context what what my son wants to do. And in his case, it's game programming. So, for him, it will be Scratch, Alice, and then 2D game programming, 3d game programming, and Wii programming. I haven't thought in terms of typical courses. In fact, I don't think programming for programming's sake is any fun. It's much better when you have an end project in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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