Kids and programming

Mikael Kindborg mikki at ida.liu.se
Fri Feb 18 08:01:29 UTC 2005


stéphane ducasse wrote:
> Mike
>
> someone told me that you were doing a lot of great stuff. So where
> can I see that?
> I'm currently working on editing my forthcoming book so may be you
> can be interested?
> http://kilana.unibe.ch:9090/BotInc
>
> stef

Hi, interesting work on BotInc and programming books
for kids. Thanks for pointing me there.

I looked through the book at:
http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~ducasse/Web/Books/BotTheRobot.pdf
and it seems ambitious and richly illustrated.

How old are the kids you have worked with for this book?
How would you say they cope with syntax errors (typos)
in the code? I guess that using Smalltalk is an advantage
if you want to really learn Squeak, but I am curious about
how the kids manage to handle errors.

I currently work on a programming tool for children that
uses comic strips to represent program actions. This tool
is based on research I made with 10 and 11 year old kids.
You can read about that here:
http://www.ida.liu.se/~mikki/comics/index.html

Will make some screenshots of the new tool, and as soon
as I have a version that I feel is ready for testing I will
let you know.

I also work together with a student that implements a
visual programming tool that uses predefined behaviours,
rather than comic strips. This tool is going to be tested
with children during this Spring. Will make this tool
available as soon as we have some documentation for it.

Both these programming tools are intended to enable kids
(and adults) to make their own interactive worlds and games.
The primary purpose is not to teach programming/math/thinking,
but to develop easy to use creative tools.

Kids have always been able to make their own home made toys
(dolls, cars, boats, etc). While these toys might not
look as polished as ready-made toys, I am sure that they
make their creators proud and satisfied of having made
something with their own hands.

With computer games this is different. It is too hard to
program a game for a kid. For me this is a question of
democracy, kids should not just be passive consumers when
it comes to interactive software programs, they should
be able to build their own software worlds.

One big reason I decided to use Squeak is the interest in
the Squeak community for kids and programming. And Squeak
is a good tool for developing new kinds of tools.

There are many good programming tools that can be used
by kids, for example ToonTalk, GameMaker, StageCast Creator,
BotInc, and eToys. What I hope to contribute with my work
is an even easier to use programming model that is very
direct and visual, with a close integration between
painting and programming, like a programmable painting tool.

Another interesting project I am involved in is writing
a book about ToonTalk for children and families. (This book
is in Swedish, but if successful it will be translated to
other languages.)

I think that it is sad that programming is not a mainstream
activity for kids. There are few books and magazines, and
few commercial products. Sims is a success, but you can
not program your Sims. You kind of guide and teach them,
perhaps this is a model for programming that could be
explored further? As an example, I recently played Sims
with a nine year old girl, and she was very skilled at
making the characters in the game fall in love and kiss
and so on. She knew exactly which commands to chose, and
she seemed to greatly enjoy this. I guess the distance
between her world and the game world is very short, and
her identification with the characters helps and motivates
when learning how to play. Perhaps a world like BotInc could
be expanded with new kinds of characters in addition to robots,
to give a Sims-like appeal.

In general, I do not like pre-made content. I think kids
should make their own content, draw their own characters
and so on, and use their creativity. But content do have
a strong appeal, it can be great fun to explore a world
of characters and objects. A program tool could support
both making your own characters and a library of predefined
characters.

Lets stay in touch. Is there any particular conference or
workshop you would recommend to attend? Perhaps we could
meet there?

Best, Micke



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