minimum age to learn python (a.k.a graphical vs text languages)

[sjdevnull at yahoo.com]

Brian Blais wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was wondering what the approximate minimum age to learn python is.  Has anyone had
> experience teaching middle school students, or elementary school students Python?
> What brought this up for me is thinking about starting a Lego robots group in a local
> middle school.  I only teach college, and have little experience with middle school
> students, so I find it hard to guess what they could actually do.  I started
> programming when I was about 5th grade, on a Commodore VIC 20 (3.5k RAM!) in basic,
> but I don't think I am typical.

Our elementary school taught LOGO on the Apple II in either 3rd or 4th
grade, and the more advance math students got some BASIC by 5th
grade.  It was just a regular school, so it seems to me like kids in
the age range you're discussing are fully capable of learning at least
some programming.