Guest Post: Resources for Teaching Coding in Early Years
It’s becoming more and more important to get early years students involved in coding. These skills can be invaluable to their future and can mean they can work on more advanced Computer Science projects in high school.
Getting very young children coding and programming can take many forms, with many of the resources featured on sites and apps offering benefits for a range of different ages and abilities.
What, then, are some top places to look when you’re planning to teach coding and programming to younger students?
» Code.org: http://code.org
This website was set up to make coding more accessible and uses celebrities to help make programming connect with younger students. While the focus is typically on older children, the resources on the site can be easily adapted, and there are a large number of short courses and valuable resources for planning lessons as well as up to date information on third party apps and other sites that can be used during teaching.
» CodeHS: http://www.codehs.com
Another high school-age focused site that can be adapted for younger children, it’s worth reviewing CodeHS’s content to learn more about what kinds of topics should be focused on when coding. The website developed out of a Stanford student project and includes easy to understand games such as Karel the Dog, as well as plenty of instructional materials to get you in the right frame of mind for lesson planning.
» Apps
It’s worth taking the time to review the many educational apps out there that focus on coding. If you want apps that are going to be suitable for younger children, then watch out for web-based programs such as Scratch, which is targeted at eight-year-olds, as well as widely accessible games like Move the Turtle and Daisy the Dinosaur for younger kids. All have fun, easy-to-use interfaces, and different pricing options.
One of the best apps for younger kids is Hopscotch, which uses games and animations to make coding more straightforward to understand. Language options include English, simplified Chinese, and Spanish. The app runs on an iPad, which can be an excellent way for younger children to learn through a tactile relationship with games. As anyone who’s seen kids with tablets will know, they pick them up pretty quickly!
Looking ahead to the future, there are some great educational resources that are opening up through online funding sites such as Kickstarter. Particularly check out Primo, which is aimed at pre-literate children and uses colors and shapes to get them used to some of the basics of programming. Primo comes with Cubetto, a robot that kids have to guide through different steps, as well as a set of building blocks that can start them making connections between different types of logic.
Albert Roberts blogs about how to get kids involved in a variety of topics. He recommends checking out the latest teaching resources at School Explained. Albert also writes about how to get children reading at home and at school.
I am a preservice STEM education teacher. I love your site! It is a true gem. Any tip/resources/advice for a future teacher?