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Career Day for Elementary School Kids?
Chris Curtin writes "My daughters' school is having a Career Education Day next month and I'd like to do a presentation. My kids are in Kindergarten and Third Grade, but I could present to Fifth Graders, as well. How do I explain what a programmer does to the kids? I was thinking about building a web page for the little ones, maybe show the older ones some visual logic with VB, where I change a basic program and run it from my laptop, showing keyboard and mouse inputs, music, and so forth. I have VB6, Java, HTML and Windows 2k on the laptop I'll be bringing. Any thoughts on how to 'wow' the little ones and make the older ones want to learn more about programming?" If you were going to make a computer presentation to a class full of children, what kind of things would you talk about?
...I'd have to re-emphasize some of the earlier posts. Keep it simple. Really -- keep it simple. While kids have a capacity for learning that is amazing, you DO NOT want to get too technical. You're not clear if you're presenting to K,3, & 5 grades at once, but that is a huge spread, and you're almost certain to lose either the K or 5th grade. If you're doing separate presentations, that'd be much better.
Take in logo (I think I saw an open source or downloadable version somewhere) and show them the direct connection between typing in a command and the logo turtle responding. Let them discover, o n their own, that when you type in RT 90, the turtle turns and when you type in FD 50, it goes forward. At that point they have a basic understanding that your commands effect the computer. Then show them a simple logo program -- maybe start with a long command line that draws a square, then load one that draws a face and run it. Let them see how complex it can get in stages.
After that, you can link the kind of program that controls a turtle to the kind of program that draws pictures and makes web pages. Focus on small stages. If you keep in mind things like the thousands of details you know, you'll lose them.
And remember, good teaching is often good entertainment as well. I'm not saying do a fancy show, but you have to keep them entertained to hold their attention.
Good luck!