WhitneyS Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 My girls are interested in learning basic coding. I do not even have the faintest idea how to do that, or where to start for them. We aren't interested in attending live classes, as our schedule is unpredictable. I started looking around, but most of what I am seeing involves live classes. Any recommendations on curriculums or apps that would let them dip their feet in. This is definitely a brand new, exploratory thing, but they do better with a big of guidance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweet2ndchance Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 What exactly are they wanting to learn how to code? Is there a particular coding language they are interested in? Are they interested in coding as a career or just for fun as a hobby? Do they want to build games? Websites? Apps? Robotics? If they are just wanting to learn coding logic, Scratch would be a good place to start dabbling. If they are interested in coding as a possible career, Hour of Code would be a good program to look into for them. FreeCodeCamp.org has tons of videos. I particularly enjoyed this video series when I needed to brush up on Javascript. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitneyS Posted August 8 Author Share Posted August 8 16 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said: What exactly are they wanting to learn how to code? Is there a particular coding language they are interested in? Are they interested in coding as a career or just for fun as a hobby? Do they want to build games? Websites? Apps? Robotics? If they are just wanting to learn coding logic, Scratch would be a good place to start dabbling. If they are interested in coding as a possible career, Hour of Code would be a good program to look into for them. FreeCodeCamp.org has tons of videos. I particularly enjoyed this video series when I needed to brush up on Javascript. Thank you! Great questions...I do not have answers haha. They have just heard about coding from other friends and told me they would like to be able to fix computer issues and write their own programs. I do not think they truly know what coding is and they just want to see if it's interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penderwink Posted August 8 Share Posted August 8 Lego Spike is cool if you are able to access that anywhere. Coding a website can also be fun. I’ve seen minecraft used as a teaching tool. I’ve got my eye on a subscription box called BitsBox for when my kid is a bit older - it looks manageable also for non-techie parents. Might there be a science center or something similar nearby where they could do some taster sessions and get a feeling for where they want to focus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitneyS Posted August 8 Author Share Posted August 8 12 minutes ago, Penderwink said: Lego Spike is cool if you are able to access that anywhere. Coding a website can also be fun. I’ve seen minecraft used as a teaching tool. I’ve got my eye on a subscription box called BitsBox for when my kid is a bit older - it looks manageable also for non-techie parents. Might there be a science center or something similar nearby where they could do some taster sessions and get a feeling for where they want to focus? Thank you! We don't have a science center, but I am hoping our co-op offers Lego Robotics this year. BitsBox might be just the thing! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 3 hours ago, WhitneyS said: They have just heard about coding from other friends and told me they would like to be able to fix computer issues and write their own programs. These two things are totally different in real life. Perhaps for kids who don't really know then write their own programs is the direction I'd start with since usually that's more fun at this stage. Then the decision between a more robotics bent or a more programming bent is do they like to physically build things. If they like to physically build things look for robotics type things. If not, go with more fun game writing things like scratch. As for coding as a possible career, the question there is do they like math; bonus points if they like logic puzzles. (You need the math to at least complete the degree to get the first job.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malam Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-science/stanford-university-computer-science-101 - this course introduces students to the basics of what a computer is and how it works, and only then moves on to the basics of code Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pintosrock Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 Option 1: Check out your library. Look for robots to check out. Mine has Makey-Makey (totally awesome) and Ozobots (less cool, but still alright) in their STEAM kits section. Another library has them in their "Library of Things" section (also stuff like puzzles, cake pans, stud finders, etc.) Option 2: Get a Scratch book and start with the projects. We've used Coding Projects in Scratch, Coding Games in Scratch, and Advanced Scratch Programming. I highly recommend Scratch as a first language. It's also very similar to LEGO's block coding system... Option 3: LEGO Robotics. We have the Boost system and an idea book with lots of projects, and Mindstorm NXT with a project book. (I'm dating myself, these are old systems. I think the current one is Spike?) Or join a team - LEGO First Robotics. My kid is part time public school (she takes electives only) which allows her to complete in clubs, teams, band, etc at the public school. I think some co-ops or homeschool groups also compete, check your area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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