[Edu-sig] python for kids...

[Jason R Briggs]

Hi Bryan

I don't think I'm particularly watering things down.  Rather taking it 
slow and going with the basics.  The original idea came from David 
Brin's Salon article last year, which decried a lack of ability in 
finding a workable version of Basic to teach his son, and argued against 
'scripting' languages (like Python).  So I was focussing more on 
covering the basics of programming that I remember reading when I first 
learned basic at the age of 8 (which was, scarily, almost 30 years ago).

J

Bryan wrote:
> hi dethe (and everyone),
>
> i wanted to let you know that i'm a professional developer and have
> recently started volunteering at a local high school teaching a
> python.  after months of going back and forth, i've decided to take
> the approach of not watering down python even to kids that have never
> programmed before.  instead, i'm taking it slow.  my goal is that
> whatever they learn, no matter how much or how little, it will be
> exactly the same style/kind/type of code that i use professionally.
> i've decided to use "Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner,
> Second Edition"  (http://tinyurl.com/2vbx7u) as my text book and it's
> working out well so far. my eight year old daughter has asked me teach
> her the same things i teach the class and she is understanding
> everything so far too.  so, i'm not convinced that watering down
> python for kids is the right way to teach python to kids. python is
> easy enough already :) just my 2 cents worth... just wanted to give
> you another option.
>
> bryan
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