[Edu-sig] Queens, NY - PYTHON Programming for Kids

Dustin James Mitchell djmitche@cs.uchicago.edu
Wed, 12 Jul 2000 13:36:28 -0500 (CDT)


On Wed, 12 Jul 2000, Thomas A. Williams wrote:

> I'm looking at the prospect of starting a programming class for youth
> at the YMCA on Pasons Blvd. in Jamaica, Queens.  I will definitely be
> building the class around PYTHON.  Does anyone have any suggestions or
> directions on setting the class up, lesson plans, teaching strategies
> for youth, etc.

Get them interested very early with small, finishable projects.  For
instance, I had my kids implement higher-lower ("guess my number" "5" "no,
my number is higher than that" "7" "no, my number is lower than that" ...)
within the first few days.

Also, make sure they have the freedom to spend a good deal of time
exploring, especially after they've got some programming under their
belts.

Oh, and don't underestimate the power of the command-line.  You can teach
all about expressions there, including expressions with strings (slicing,
etc.)

Keep us updated on what you're doing there!

Dustin

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|                         Dustin Mitchell                )O(        |
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