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> So in the end teaching my kids programming is basically making sure they have access to a good environment where they can do stuff that is fun. I answer questions if they have any and react when I see them bored or stuck for too long, but that's about it.

That's how the speaker describes her initial approach and then later goes into the research on why it's not the most effective. In particular, the relative novelty of computer programming means we haven't had much time to develop a pedagogy, particularly a pedagogy for kids [0]. And even the methods that we have developed haven't been fully explored, but what research there is offers ideas for other ways to approach the education that yield better results than just letting them explore on their own (though, like the speaker, that's how I did it circa 1990 as an 8-year-old).

[0] I recently learned that the root of pedagogy (makes sense, just never stopped to think about it) has the term relate specific to the teaching of kids. There's a related term andragogy which is for the teaching of adults. This does make my sentence a bit silly, but the distinction is not typically made in English. Not sure about other languages.



It may not be the most efficient way, but I find that it is less likely to permanently discourage kids from programming.

And they have a lot of time to learn. I started learning programming in my late teens, before that there weren't even any computers around.


I started around the end of my teens. And it was a conscious decision, I didn't fall into it. Thankfully, I found that I enjoyed it.




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