Everyone agrees that children should be computer literate, but we would receive\u00a0various\u00a0answers to the question whether this includes programming literacy as well. The dynamic development of information technology is constantly changing our views on many issues, and in the year that just ended, a number of initiatives were launched, as well as ideas and innovative solutions aimed at mass teaching of \u00a0programming and computer science.<\/p>\n
It is time to rethink the question of whether all children should learn programming: those who support\u00a0this need\u00a0to reflect\u00a0onwhat\u00a0part of\u00a0programming\u00a0exactly should be\u00a0taught\u00a0and how\u00a0itshould be taught, and those who are\u00a0closer to\u00a0a negative answer, should consider whether\u00a0a\u00a0different approach\u00a0to learning programming may\u00a0makes sense.<\/span><\/p>\n User and\/or programmer<\/span><\/p>\n There are more and more things\u00a0from the field of computer sciences that\u00a0ordinary users\u00a0should know. For example, if\u00a0weproperly mark the styles in\u00a0a\u00a0Microsoft Word document, we can easily establish the content and automate a variety of other activities, such as the correction\u00a0of the appearance of subheadings.<\/span><\/p>\n Similarly, if some of\u00a0our\u00a0data is entered in an Excel spreadsheet,we\u00a0do not need to connect cells\u00a0nor to mark importance of the content by changing the\u00a0color of the cell\u00a0– structure of rows and columns should be clean, with the introduction of\u00a0a new columnwhen we need a new\u00a0characteristic. If we do so,\u00a0afterwards\u00a0wewill easily automate the filtering\u00a0of\u00a0rows, as well as sort andcount totals by groups etc. All\u00a0Excel\u00a0users should know this; however, as\u00a0in the previous case, to those skilled inprogramming\u00a0this\u00a0is all logical without\u00a0a lot of explaining.<\/span><\/p>\n Examples like the previous two, illustrate\u00a0how a mindset that is acquired by learning programming\u00a0is\u00a0useful for general understanding of technology. In fact, every time you think about how to do something\u00a0so that it could be better automated later,\u00a0amental activity similar to programming\u00a0takes\u00a0place. There remains only the question of how to teach\u00a0children\u00a0to think like programmers,\u00a0without\u00a0overburdening\u00a0them\u00a0with\u00a0all that professional\u00a0programmers\u00a0need to know.<\/span><\/p>\n If you have not\u00a0done it\u00a0already, we recommend that you go through a few lessons on learn.code.org. Short programs which solve\u00a0given problems\u00a0are\u00a0created by stacking\u00a0offered\u00a0blocks and thus controlling\u00a0the characters from famous video games.\u00a0As an introductory explanation\u00a0for certain areas\u00a0you\u00a0have video clips in which celebrities appear.\u00a0Those who liked the lessons fromlearn.code.org,\u00a0may go on Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) to create their own animated content, and\u00a0try to\u00a0learn\u00a0the basics of Web programming\u00a0at\u00a0Codeacademy\u00a0(www.codeacademy.org<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n An hour for knowledge<\/span><\/p>\n In the first half of December\u00a0a\u00a0global\u00a0initiative\u00a0entitled\u00a0\u201cAn Hour of\u00a0Code\u201d\u00a0was organized\u00a0(in which more than 15 million people\u00a0spent\u00a0an hour\u00a0on learning\u00a0programming,\u00a0going throughtutorials based on the\u00a0aforementioned\u00a0and other similar tools.The\u00a0results of this\u00a0initiative, in which a significant participation of schools, organizations and individuals was marked, may be found on csedweek.org.\u00a0The experiences from \u201cAn Hour of Code\u201d prove that children respond positively to this method of learning.<\/span><\/p>\n If you want\u00a0a\u00a0serious expert analysis, see\u00a0the report of the joint working group Informatics Europe and ACM Europe on computer education or the Royal Society report on computing in UK schools.<\/span><\/p>\n We should mention that the National Educational Council of the Republic of Serbia adopted the “Guidelines for the Advancement of ICT in education” (www.nps.gov.rs<\/a>),\u00a0in whose drafting the author of this text also participated. In the\u00a0section entitled\u00a0\u201cThe Role of ICT in the objectives and outcomes of education\u201d\u00a0the classification of competences with the significant role of ICT\u00a0is given, within which\u00a0IT reasoning\u00a0is highlighted\u00a0ass general education competence\u00a0dominated\u00a0by the\u00a0aspect of understanding the concepts, principles and theoreticalfoundations from the field of ICT.<\/span><\/p>\n It is not enough to teach children how to use\u00a0technology;\u00a0rather they\u00a0should be familiarized\u00a0with the concepts and the scientific basis on which ICT\u00a0is based. Of course, this does not mean that everyone needs to become\u00a0a professional\u00a0in computer science, but\u00a0that computer science is acquiring the aspect of\u00a0general education, much like mathematics or physics.<\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0original\u00a0version of the text can be\u00a0found\u00a0on the\u00a0website of\u00a0PC Press:\u00a0PC Press no. 26<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everyone agrees that children should be computer literate, but we would receive\u00a0various\u00a0answers to the question whether this includes programming literacy as well. The dynamic development of information technology is constantly changing our views on many issues, and in the year … Continue reading