Not bad. There are things we can improve. For example, a variable is less like a nickname referring to one thing than a pronoun that can refer to different things each time it is used. I do not have time today for a complete review, but I would like to do it sometime soon, in part because I have a different approach to teaching nine-year-olds Computer Science, and because I am promoting the idea of replacing printed textbooks with computers (costing less) and free electronic learning materials. We don't have a good name for them, because they are based on software such as Turtle Art or Smalltalk, and are clearly neither texts nor books. On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 00:28, Andre Lessa <andre@lessaworld.com> wrote:

Hey Python Community,

I just self published this brand new book and I'm making its PDF available for (free) download on my web site.

My goal is to explain some very basic fundamentals of computer science to kids who are starting to learn about computers at school and/or at home. For the tiny hints of programming, I referenced Python. If you (or a kid you know) ends up having access to this book, please send your feedback (suggestions/corrections) directly to me so I can start thinking about the next edition and how I can make it even cooler for kids.

Thanks! Andre Lessa

You can download the entire book here (no registration required). "Computer Science For Kids" http://www.LessaWorld.com/kids/ _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig

-- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. http://www.earthtreasury.org/

Andre, Thanks for your efforts putting this together. As the text stands right now I'd have a hard time recommending it over CS Unplugged (http://csunplugged.org/). You are covering very advanced concepts at times on a single page, and in some cases I would question the value of learning that concept in an intro text (threads, network ports, dictionary data structure). You use exception notation at times (try/except) that I think would confuse a beginner audience (why not just build on the if/then concept?). Most of the teachers I know that would be candidates for this (elementary / middle school) would have a hard time teaching from the text and would need quite a bit of supplemental information to understand the concept being taught. I would study the level of detail you see in the (free, creative commons) CS Unplugged modules to get a sense for how much needs to be explained to get even basic concepts across. Thanks for asking, Chris Brooks