Teaching Kids to Code
Next Generation Drupalers
DrupalCamp Colorado matthewtift.com
June 2015 @matthewtift
Matthew Tift (mtift)
Skills for Kids
Photos:
Kevin Dooley,
Søren Niedziella,
Martin Abegglen,
John Lustig
Teaching Kids to Code
Dmitri Gaskin
Age 8: Taught himself to code
Age 10: Built school website in Drupal
Age 12: Conference talks
Age 16: Keynote in Australia
Age 19: Forbes 30 Under 30 (2015)
For ALL kids
Ninja
Rock Star
Genius
Talent is
overrated
What would
Matthew do?
Vim
or Emacs?
I see Drupal
in Vim
Teach them SQL?
SELECT *
FROM config
WHERE name
LIKE '%image.style%';
SELECT *
FROM config
WHERE name
LIKE '%image.style%';Teach them Views?
Books
Not great for most 7-year-olds
Books
Community?
Sharing?
Scheduling?
Purpose?
What would
other people
do?
Tips for teaching kids to code
- Scratch for younger kids, Python for older kids
- Show source code, don't just talk concepts
- Games are fun programming projects
- Keep your hands off the keyboard and mouse
- Give each kid their own computer in a class
- Skip the computer science
Minnesota
Colorado
Girls
Just a small list
code.org
codeacademy.org
udacity.com
coursera.org
codeschool.com
codeavengers.com
teamtreehouse.com
khanacademy.org
learnstreet.com
codehs.com
more!
Dude, why do
we need you?
Minnesota
Schools
Lack Qualified Teachers
Typically Math Teacher
High School Only
Elective
Minnetonka
Idea: K-12 Programming for all kids
Listen
Parent Focus Groups
Student Focus Groups
Photo: woodleywonderworks
Tonka <codes> design team
Parents, Teachers, Principals,
Media Specialists, Community
Art
Math
Music
Science
Reading
Multidisciplinary
Curricular
Co-curricular
Extra-curricular
Multiple Tracks
/ | \
Python |
Game Development |
Java |
Start Young
Experiment!
2013
Start Small
2013
Not Vim
Scratch
4th & 5th Grade
Coding Club, 2014
Raspberry Pi Club
Create Partnerships
Student Leaders
Start!
Train Teachers
350 elementary teachers trained last fall
Continue!
Bird Brain, a fork of Scratch (2015)
I talk about the web,
Drupal
What is code,
really?
Asian Penguins
Linux User Group
Drupalers Cooperate
Asian Penguins: July Episode
< plug >
What is Drupal?
< seriously, another plug? >
What is Drupal?
PHP
Twig
HTML5
Symfony
Composer
JavaScript
Doctrine
Guzzle
Zend
CSS
Drupal as
Activity
leahtift.com
