Michelle Sun - First Time Coders: A Definitive Guide to Coding for Children

Copyright 2019 Michelle Sun

All rights reserved.

First Time Coders

A Definitive Guide to Coding for Children

ISBN: 978-1-5445-0494-0

To all those who

encouraged me to fly

towards my dreams

The fascination with computing for kids has exploded over the past decade. Programming, coding, and computational thinking are now encouraged as critical skills for young people both in and out of school. There are dazzling numbers of courses, educational toys, and instructional materials all aimed at kids, with new offerings appearing weekly. Its no wonder parents can feel overwhelmed in selecting the right products to get their kids into computing. And not only parents: teachers, curriculum designers, educational policy makers, even experts are all being inundated with claims and choices. I myself can hardly follow the new developments, and I have been involved with kids and computing at MIT for fifty years.

Michelle Sun brings us a much-needed guide to help parents navigate the bewildering choices.

Unlike other books about computing for young people, this book is aimed especially at parents who are wondering how to introduce their kids to the universe of computing. Its not an instruction book to accompany a single toy or programming platform. Rather, Sun surveys the most popular offerings, compares their strengths and weaknesses, and gives parents perspective on how to choose among them. She also answers general questions parents might have, such as: How does programming work? and Why are there so many different programming languages?

The book is divided into sections that describe appropriate tools for different age groups, ranging from ages 4-5 through 12 and up. Best of all, there are sample activities and project descriptions for each tool that will give parents an idea of how their kids might take advantage of these products.

The projects here are drawn from Suns extensive experience introducing kids to computing. She is the founder and CEO of First Code Academy, the largest K-12 coding education institute in the Asia Pacific, which runs in-person workshops and online classrooms for over ten thousand students. In 2015, she was selected by the BBC as one of the 30 Under 30 Women Entrepreneurs and selected in 2016 by Forbes 30 Under 30 in Asia.

I know Sun through my own work on MIT App Inventor, a programming system developed at Google and MIT thats focused on letting middle school kids create mobile applications for smartphones and tablets. App Inventor is one of the tools discussed in this book and in First Codes workshops. Sun has also been an instructor in the MIT Mobile Computing Master Trainer Program that brings expert teachers to MIT to hone their skills in teaching mobile computing.

This book is for you if you are a parent trying to make sense of all the options available. Likewise, if you are a teacher needing to select the right tools for your class, or a policymaker needing to gain perspective on curriculum choices. What you need is advice and perspective from someone who has extensive hands-on experience with kids using a wide range of coding tools. Sun is one of the most experienced and one of the best. You could hardly ask for better advice.

Professor Hal Abelson

MIT

Cambridge, MA

As a parent, youre confronted with a myriad of choices and decisions regarding your childrens education and ways to better prepare them for the future. Computer coding should be one of your first choices.

Only a decade ago, households had perhaps one or two smartphones and a single computer. Now, more than a third of US households have three or more connected devices, according to Pew Research Center. Everyone is dialed in to this high-tech environment, even toddlers. A child as young as one year old knows how to unlock an iPhone. Children are constantly exposed to devices, and coding is one of the most effective ways to help children of this generation express their creativity.

Those who grew up in the analog generation used pen and paper to express their creativity. They drew, tinkered, scribbled, and colored out of the lines. Today, kids grow up playing on smart devices. These consumer devices tend to present passive content and entertainment, such as videos and games. Young children are, however, creative by nature and at the prime age to express themselves through imagination. Coding gives them back their creative power. Using a smart tablet or iPad, children can program a robot, code their own games, or create their own apps.

Theres a huge demand in todays job market for people who know how to code. Practically every industry today is touched in some way by coding. The technology industry continues to be in a stage of hyper-growth, which in turn fuels the need for coders. If technology is a canvas, coding is its paintbrush. It is where creativity meets practical job skills.

Beyond the tech industry, coding skills come into play in the automation of industriesfrom healthcare to architecture to manufacturing and beyond.

Medical: Robotic surgeons carry out crucial steps in many medical procedures, including knee replacement, Lasik eye surgery, and hair transplants. Robot-assisted surgery is a type of minimally invasive surgery, done with precision, resulting in smaller incisions, decreased blood loss, faster healing time, and less pain. While there are still many limitations to what robots can do in the operation room, many believe robot surgeons will shape the future of medicine.

Architecture: Presenting designs to clients is a time-consuming and daunting task. Architects and designers now incorporate virtual reality into their workflows and client presentations, which allows clients to better visualize the project before it is built, make faster decisions, and be able to make design modifications earlier in the process.

Blockchain: Blockchain is a decentralized technology designed to save digital records through a peer-to-peer network. Walmart uses Blockchain to boost food safety through the supply chain by making the food production process more transparent, traceable, and safe.

Artificial Intelligence: Google launched Global Fishing Watch in 2016a real-time tool used to combat illegal fishing by providing a global view of commercial fishing activities based on ship movements and satellite data. It can be used by governments and other organizations to identify suspicious behaviors and develop sustainable policies.

The pace of technological change is ripe for new career paths; as we look to prepare our children for the future, you, as a parent, may be left feeling a little disoriented over this fast-changing landscape.

There is no question that digital devices are now an integrated part of most kids childhood. Parents often wonder how best to help their child navigate the ever-changing technology world. Experts offer opinions on screen time and managing childrens devices. Many parents of young children wish that they themselves had spent less time playing video games, and more time outside and in more creative pursuits. As parents try to regulate their childrens time on devices, they are encountering increased household tension.