Slashdot Mirror
Starcoder Uses a Multiplayer Game to Teach Programming (Video # 1)
Starcoder, says the project's Kickstarter page, "is a multiplayer online space action game that teaches kids coding as they play." Their page also points out that it's easier to learn as a group than it is to learn alone. The Starcoder Kickstarter project has collected $3221 at this writing, out of a $4000 goal, and they have until June 17 to come up with the rest. So please take a look at Starcoder, see how it works and why it is unquestionably a more interesting way to learn programming basics than the traditional "highly theoretical and (frankly) boring manner."
Starcoder starts with Blockly. Then, as students advance to higher game levels, moves to JavaScript. Yes, there are levels. Also competitive play, since Starcoder is a massively multiplayer online game. In fact, a big reason for the Kickstarter project is to expand server capability so that kids can play from home, not just in school or during after-school computer classes. One more thing to note: The Win2Learn team behind Starcoders is composed of professional educators and designers. They've been working on STEM education for a while. Want to see some of the thinking behind Starcoder? They have some video clips on Vimeo that not only show you how the game was developed, but give you a good look at how it's played. Does it sound good? Do you want more kids to have access to an ever-improving Starcoder? Then you know what to do. (Note: This is video 1 of 2. The second one will run tomorrow. The transcript covers both videos, plus some material we were forced to edit out of the videos due to length restrictions.)
Starcoder starts with Blockly. Then, as students advance to higher game levels, moves to JavaScript. Yes, there are levels. Also competitive play, since Starcoder is a massively multiplayer online game. In fact, a big reason for the Kickstarter project is to expand server capability so that kids can play from home, not just in school or during after-school computer classes. One more thing to note: The Win2Learn team behind Starcoders is composed of professional educators and designers. They've been working on STEM education for a while. Want to see some of the thinking behind Starcoder? They have some video clips on Vimeo that not only show you how the game was developed, but give you a good look at how it's played. Does it sound good? Do you want more kids to have access to an ever-improving Starcoder? Then you know what to do. (Note: This is video 1 of 2. The second one will run tomorrow. The transcript covers both videos, plus some material we were forced to edit out of the videos due to length restrictions.)
I'd like to "take a look at Starcoder" but I'm not seeing any links to an online demo, or the source code, etc.
Do not want videos. Please stop.
Videos suck. Please listen.
I'm using Firefox on a Mac and the videos here don't even work for me.
So maybe I'm lucky, because I don't actually want them to work.
Rocky's Boots was great at teaching logic.
I kind of wonder how some of the early games we played as kids stack up against educational software today. I remember doing alegbra, fractions, logic, etc... back on a PCJr probably around age 7 and having fun with it.
Cue in 1/3 of slashdot complaining that *JavaScript* is the wrong language to start with, cripples the mind, doesn't offer enough opportunities, isn't present enoug in corporation, or in github, or isn't hype enough, etc. ....
With everybody instead try to convince that they should better start with Python / Perl / Ruby / Java / Scala / Haskell / Erlang / various shell scripts / SQL / PHP / Objective-C / LISP / C / C++ / Rust / Go / C# / Assembler / BrainFuck
Curiously none of the complaining slashdoters will suggest VisualBasic or Cobol.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
It's a video I might actually watch once I'm home from work. I mean it's not like I wouldn't prefer an article that has a couple youtube links, but whatever.
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
In the 90's we were all taught typing, it 'gameified ' something that wasn't an actual skill. Now I'm not saying this is the exact same thing, but intuition and experience tells me these kids aren't going to learn a damn thing transferable to the real world and at the worst are going to either hate what they think 'coding' is, or they'll expect all their learning material to be some kind of game.
What young people should be learning is how to read a book. A good old fashioned paper book, because even online documents are published in the image of such with indexes, glossaries, headers, footnotes and comments. Even I wasn't taught these skills in school.
I read book after book of historical, biographical and technical material during my free time in the library until I learned the 'Google' of the book could be found in the front and back pages. I was encouraged to read fiction and those choose-your-own adventure books all through elementary, as if I would go on to learn anything from those damn things. Even my parents wouldn't buy me a book unless it was Goosebumps or Animorphs.
What I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't plunge kids into CODE but ease them into programming, teach them that it's more like math, a subject they're likely to disdain, in order to weed out the kids who think CODE is some magical path to JOB and VIDEO GAMES.
and for Goddess' sake teach Digital media as a separate course to computer science.
Played Robot Wars on my Apple ][+ when I was a wee lad in the early 80's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Interview Technique #1 - Don't let the interviewee sit in a swivel chair. It is both distracting and nauseating to the viewer.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
Code Combat (http://codecombat.com/) is a really cool interactive way to learn programming. Got a good intro to JS there. There's a bunch of other sites already out there, what does StarCoder offer that they do not?
This seems to be based on the concept that groups are wiser than individuals. There's a lot of this thinking going around. Among touchy-feely people there is a tendency to think that groups are smarter than individuals. They are wrong.
Individuals have inspired every worthwhile advance in every discipline through history. The clones, followers, me-too's, don't accomplish anything. If you hope to do anything worthwhile with your life, leave the crowd and do some independent thinking. These games will not help your children in that direction.
And yes, videos are a waste of time- thoughtful text imparts information better.
...omphaloskepsis often...
so why would it work with Kickstarter and online games that are even more complex? Also, your kids are dumber today than they were 30 years ago.
mastering 10 finger technique isn't a skill? it sure is.
I agree. I've spent years mastering the 5 finger technique myself. Not as fancy as the 10 finger but it gets the job done.