Program or Be Programmed: Douglas Rushkoff, Leland Purvis: Amazon.com Teaching Kids to Code Every era demands--and rewards--different skills. In different times and different places, we have taught our children to grow vegetables, build a house, forge a sword or blow a delicate glass, bake bread, create a soufflé, write a story or shoot hoops. Now we are teaching them to code. We are teaching them to code, however, not so much as an end in itself but because our world has morphed: so many of the things we once did with elements such as fire and iron, or tools such as pencil and paper, are now wrought in code. We are teaching coding to help our kids craft their future. In this collection we share many different perspectives on coding, from a university professor's vantage point (MIT's Mitch Resnick describes why learning to code is like learning to learn) to an entrepreneur's reflections from his cross-country roadtrip to bring coding--and his stuffed dog--to classrooms across the U.S. We should always teach children to bake bread, feed the goats and wield a hammer.
Hopscotch Introduces Programming for Kids on an iPad Hopscotch is a new app designed to get kids coding on the iPad. It is an absolutely great introductory program, and one that will only improve as time goes by. In many ways Hopscotch is a simplified version of Scratch with some additional controls for the iPad – you can, for example, make an object react to the tilt sensor. Like Scratch, you create a program easily by dragging jigsaw-like pieces arrayed on the side of the screen into an active area. Modify the details such as distance or duration and you’re good to go. There are limitations, though, which mean that even slightly older kids, or those with a bit of experience with programming, will soon be looking to move on to something more sophisticated. The next release, coming out in the next couple of weeks, will allow you to edit the random numbers. Although there are limitations, Hopscotch works wonderfully within them. All in all I strongly recommend Hopscotch as a great way to introduce kids to programming. Like this:
Cargo-Bot – iPad The first game programmed entirely on iPad® Be Logical. Play Cargo-Bot Presenting Cargo-Bot. The first game programmed entirely on iPad using Codea™ Get it for free on the App Store. Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where you teach a robot how to move crates. It features 36 fiendishly clever puzzles, haunting music and stunning retina graphics. Built with Codea Cargo-Bot is the first game on the App Store developed using Codea, an iPad app for rapidly creating games and simulations. Get Codea on the App Store. Cargo-Bot was developed by Rui Viana using Codea. Fred Bogg coded the entire music engine using Codea's sound API, as well as composing the Cargo-Bot score. Blazing The Trail For Female Programmers : All Tech Considered hide captionSarah Allen, CEO of Blazing Cloud, works with user experience designer Anton Zadorozhnyy in the company's offices in San Francisco. Ramin Rahimian for NPR Sarah Allen, CEO of Blazing Cloud, works with user experience designer Anton Zadorozhnyy in the company's offices in San Francisco. This story is part of our series, The Changing Lives of Women. Sarah Allen has been the only woman on a team of computer programmers a few times in the more than two decades she has worked in the field. Most notably, she led the team — as the lone female programmer — that created Flash video, the dominant technology for streaming video on the Web. Since only about 20 percent of all programmers are women, her experience isn't uncommon, and now she's trying to bring more women into the field. hide captionSarah Allen works with interns Lori Hsu (left) and Fito von Zastrow at the Blazing Cloud offices in San Francisco. Recently they met with Estee Solomon Gray, the founder of a company called Mmindd.
SNAP! (Build Your Own Blocks) Professional blog I was recently asked about some programming environments I've used with students, and I thought I might as well compile a list of them, as well as some environments I've considered using. Blockly (Image credit: BlocklyBlockly is an open-source online programming environment developed by Google. It is currently very much a work in progress, although the language itself seems pretty stable, getting it to a state of usability for a group of students is not for the faint of heart. (Image credit: Coffee MUD screenshot)Coffee MUD is easily the most difficult of all of the programming environments listed here to set up, and certainly amongst the most complicated environments to use. How to write a kick-ass proposal for Google Summer of Code « Teo Mrnjavac In a few weeks students can begin submitting their applications for Google Summer of Code 2016. KDE has been accepted as a mentoring organization again this year, and I’ve already been contacted by several students looking to do a Google Summer of Code project with KDE. Prospective Summer of Code students usually have lots of enthusiasm, and they often write great proposals with little or no help, but sometimes these proposals lack key information. I’ve seen my share of good and bad proposals. This post is for students who wish to take part in Google Summer of Code. Google Summer of Code is a kind of like a scholarship program, and a very competitive one: if you get picked, you’re one of just a thousand students in the world (about 1300 last year, 36 of those with KDE) who get to spend their summer hacking on open source software while learning from the very best software craftspeople, and get paid for it too. I used to structure my proposals the following way (worked well 3 times).
Rio Goes High-Tech, With An Eye Toward Olympics, World Cup : Parallels Rio's Operations Center brings together more than 30 agencies and allows them to coordinate on daily issues such as traffic, as well as on emergencies such as the frequent flash floods in hillside slums. Raphael Lima/Courtesy of the Operations Center, City of Rio De Janeiro hide caption toggle caption Raphael Lima/Courtesy of the Operations Center, City of Rio De Janeiro Rio's Operations Center brings together more than 30 agencies and allows them to coordinate on daily issues such as traffic, as well as on emergencies such as the frequent flash floods in hillside slums. Raphael Lima/Courtesy of the Operations Center, City of Rio De Janeiro We are standing in front of a huge bank of screens, in the middle of which is a glowing map that changes focus depending on what the dozens of controllers are looking at. The room looks like something straight out of a NASA shuttle launch. This is Rio de Janeiro in real time. toggle caption Felipe Dana/AP Felipe Dana/AP Warning Against Flash Floods
Ideas for Teaching Computer Technology to Kids | A collection of ideas and resources that might help someone who wants to teach kids about computer technology Facebook's Bold, Compelling and Scary Engine of Discovery: The Inside Story of Graph Search | Wired Business Beast had a birthday last week. The First Dog of social networking — live-in companion to Mark Zuckerberg and his bride, Priscilla Chan — turned two. The proud owners baked a cake for the Hungarian sheepdog and decided to throw an impromptu party. To date, sorting through your Facebook friends could be a frustrating task. For years now, Facebook watchers have wondered when the company would unleash the potential of its underpowered search bar. In the weeks leading up to the launch, Facebook executives were still trying to come up with a name for the new product. The result is surprisingly compelling. Zuckerberg says that this is in fact a return to the company’s roots. The first of many steps, that is. For example, he thinks he can make it easier to find invitees for a canine birthday party.
Code.org: Solving our CS shortage 1 teacher, 1 student at a time Code.org, founded by brothers and serial entrepreneurs Ali and Hadi Partovi, is dedicated to improving the state of computer science education in the United States. The bottom line is that we're nowhere close to being able to meet the demand for programmers in the coming years. Check out this graphic from Code.org: These statistics are actually pretty ridiculous. We focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in many of our conversations, but actual programming rarely enters the picture. Code.org has attracted interest from some of the biggest names in technology and politics. Our policy at Facebook is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find. From an educational perspective, Bill Gates hits the nail on the head (also speaking in support of Code.org and its efforts): Learning to write programs stretches your mind, and helps you think better, creates a way of thinking about things that I think is helpful in all domains. I'm not a history teacher.
After Conquering Consoles, Hard-Core Gaming Shifts To Mobile : All Tech Considered hide captionGears of War: Judgment hit stores on Tuesday. Courtesy Microsoft Studios This generation of video game consoles will be remembered for over-the-top, knock-you-out-of-your-seat extravaganza games like Halo, Call of Duty — and Gears of War, a juggernaut of a game. "Gears of War specifically, to me, is a game that defined the HD generation of gaming," says Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, which publishes and develops games for the Xbox. According to industry analyst Billy Pidgeon, Gears of War may be the swan song for this particular type of gaming experience. "It is one of a kind," he says. Ahead Of The Curve Big changes are coming to the game industry. According to Pidgeon, the console market has peaked. That's a pretty radical thing to say. That said, Gears' maker, Epic Games, is already placing its bets on mobile. Rein may not be modest, but he does have a point. There's Always Time For Video Games