I spent sometime playing with Scratch Jr, from MIT and I have to admit that it is engaging and pleasing enough for a child younger than five to spend time with it. While I still thing procedural writing of syntax is incredibly important, visual cues help abundantly. I will anon, post some simple exercises for toddlers in Scratch.
Other addons include ScratchX, where the output can be connected to an Arduino board or a Microbits board. Netlogo is another programming platform that is for agent based modeling. Interesting, a bit out there perhaps.
In addition to programming, I also read an article about constructionism learning theory by Seymour Papert. An excellent piece of work, this speaks about how education can be liberating when the right techniques are used:
http://fablearn.stanford.edu/fellows/blog/constructionism-learning-theory-and-model-maker-education
There seem to be several organizations that are promoting and enabling constructionism (tinkering) in early learners.
1. MIT LLK
2. Stanford Fablearn
Need to explore more.
Other addons include ScratchX, where the output can be connected to an Arduino board or a Microbits board. Netlogo is another programming platform that is for agent based modeling. Interesting, a bit out there perhaps.
In addition to programming, I also read an article about constructionism learning theory by Seymour Papert. An excellent piece of work, this speaks about how education can be liberating when the right techniques are used:
http://fablearn.stanford.edu/fellows/blog/constructionism-learning-theory-and-model-maker-education
There seem to be several organizations that are promoting and enabling constructionism (tinkering) in early learners.
1. MIT LLK
2. Stanford Fablearn
Need to explore more.
