Teaching Youngsters Programming

I've just got my RPi, with a view to checking out its capability. Once upon a time I was a physics teacher and later became a software engineer because programming is so much fun.
So I'm disappointed, like others, that ICT in schools often seems to come down to using Word and Excel. I like the idea of catching kids early and showing them how to create simple programs.
I think KTurtle would be good for that. It is fun, and procedural via its learn command.
See Turtle tracks on my (RPi hosted) blog.

See Turtle tracks on my (RPi hosted) blog.

Oops I lost my static IP address. My ISP withdrew RPi's static IP and I can't afford an upgrade to replace it. So I have switched to Dynamic DNS via http://dalriada.hopto.org/rpi , thanks to no-ip.com and my Draytek router.

Turtle tracks is now at http://dalriada.hopto.org/rpi/?p=56

For kids the python turtle module is great.

http://docs.python.org/library/turtle.html

It's pre-installed by default and you can start doing basic drawing with a few commands

Code: Select all

import turtle

for i in range(0,5) :
   turtle.forward(25)
   turtle.left(45)


For kids the python turtle module is great.
http://docs.python.org/library/turtle.html
It's pre-installed by default and you can start doing basic drawing with a few commands

Thanks, that insipred me to check out python-turtle-graphics. See Python tracks on my (RPi hosted) blog. There are loads of examples and they get quite sophisticated - plenty to keep young whiz-kids interested.

Wow that was quick work, looks good.

BTW this is a really good video about using it for teaching kids http://blip.tv/pycon-us-videos-2009-201 ... le-1957160