Making Learning Fun

How to get my kids interested in computer programming is a question that often crosses my mind. Not because I want them to grow up to be professional computer programmers, but because computers are such an integral part of our lives that at some point we will all need to have a basic understanding of how computers are programmed to do what they do. My fear is that if kids do not start developing those skills now, they may end up being left behind in the technology-driven world of the future.

So here are a couple of resources to get children interested in programming:

•  Scratch is a language developed for teaching at M.I.T.’s Media Lab.  It is simple and it encourages collaboration. Kids can use it to build games and tell stories without the cryptic commands that were once the only way to tell computers what to do.
•  Alice is a similar tool from Carnegie Mellon.  It gives children command over three-dimensional characters like the ones found in video games. Alice focuses children’s attention by giving them tiles with instructions that advance the plot of a story. With tiles like “jump” or “turn,” a kid can tell a skater what to do.

So give them a try. I know I will.