Can kids under 10 be possibly taught coding, without even mentioning the word syntax to them ??

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
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    23 days ago

    Plenty of good resources shared and I’d add

    … and yet, all that being said and done the deeper question IMHO is why?

    The word “syntax” should not be taboo. Grammar should also not be something to ignore. In fact if you consider Umaschi Bers, Papert, or Alan Perlis’ “A programming language that doesn’t change the way you think is not worth learning.” the crux is why learning programming in the first place?

    Are you creating yet another developer or rather are you helping someone to explore what even programming is? What building things mean regardless of what tool they use? What is a language?

    of course the former is more pragmatic but the later IMHO is much more interesting and will probably keep them learning for their entire life. It probably also will, as a side effect, teach the former.