Teaching Primary School Students Programming?

NotesSensei asks: "Recently I was teasing the teacher who runs the computer club in my sons' primary school: 'You teach the kids only how to use software but not how to make software.' Today I got an email: 'OK, you're in: teach them programming.' Now I wonder what language should I pick? My first lesson will be the board game c-jump, but after that? The contestants are: Kids programming language KPL (ab VB.net derivate; Java using BlueJ; Greenfoot (and the BlueJ); and HTML. Does it sound like I'm on the right track or should I try something completely different? We are looking at primary 3-5 (that's 10-13 in this part of the world). Where can I find inspiration for the curriculum?"

Comments

Scheme? *ducks*

[AslanTheMentat]

Some may argue (and probably will) but I have always found Scheme to be an interesting language to lets kids play with because of the "instant gratification" of an interpreted language's "read-eval-print" paradigm. Plus, with "The Little Schemer", which presents things in a very logical, pedogogical way, which is well suited to clever children.


The Little Schemer
Just a thought...

Re:too young for abstract thought

[AuMatar]

Bullshit. People give kids too little credit. First off, most of them know basic algebra already- they've been solving math questions with x in the and solving for x for years. Secondly, basic programming doesn't require abstract thought- it requires you to understand boolean logic and arithmetic. Most kids can handle that by the time they're done with first grade, if not sooner.