Actually, I find the design of new Passport to be really clever. It's for people who want to use a 7inch tablet as a phone, but who don't want to look like idiots holding a giant book against their face. By chopping off the bottom of a 7inch tablet, Blackberry created a device that has most of the benefits of a 7inch tablet while not sticking out awkwardly when you hold it to your ear. It's better than a 5inch phablet for browsing because it's wider. It's better than a 7inch tablet for phone calls because the microphone lines up nicely with your mouth.
I made a Dutch version of JavaScript, and I made a Dutch programming website for kids (sort of similar to the Khanacademy CS lessons). It's called Programming Basics. It's also available in French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, German, Arabic, Japanese, and a bunch of others. It's not visual like Scratch (which is available in many different languages, btw), but I tried to make the lessons as interactive as possible with robots and other things.
I actually run a website at http://www.programmingbasics.org/ . It focuses on teaching a few simple programming concepts in JavaScript to younger kids. It uses Java applets, but other than that, there's nothing to install. Everything is integrated right into the website (like Codecademy), so kids can dive right in and start programming.
There are lots of great languages for starter programmers, but a lot of these languages don't have extensive lessons available for beginner programmers. If you're providing guidance or if the student is highly motivated, it's not a problem, but sometimes it's useful to have some lessons and exercises available. I created a website called Programming Basics that provides some basic but thorough tutorials for teaching JavaScript to beginner programmers.
I've actually created a website at http://www.programmingbasics.org/ for teaching simple programming to young kids using JavaScript. It targets a level below that of KPL but above that of c-jump. It's designed to be completely self-contained, so the website provides an IDE, an extensive set of illustrated lessons, and various programming activites. Many of the other educational programming systems that have been mentioned here are quite nice and powerful, but they often come with only very brief tutorials. If kids "get" the tutorial, then you're fine, but if not, then a more detailed set of lessons like those provided by my Programming Basics site might be useful.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, I find the design of new Passport to be really clever. It's for people who want to use a 7inch tablet as a phone, but who don't want to look like idiots holding a giant book against their face. By chopping off the bottom of a 7inch tablet, Blackberry created a device that has most of the benefits of a 7inch tablet while not sticking out awkwardly when you hold it to your ear. It's better than a 5inch phablet for browsing because it's wider. It's better than a 7inch tablet for phone calls because the microphone lines up nicely with your mouth.
I made a Dutch version of JavaScript, and I made a Dutch programming website for kids (sort of similar to the Khanacademy CS lessons). It's called Programming Basics. It's also available in French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, German, Arabic, Japanese, and a bunch of others. It's not visual like Scratch (which is available in many different languages, btw), but I tried to make the lessons as interactive as possible with robots and other things.
I actually run a website at http://www.programmingbasics.org/ . It focuses on teaching a few simple programming concepts in JavaScript to younger kids. It uses Java applets, but other than that, there's nothing to install. Everything is integrated right into the website (like Codecademy), so kids can dive right in and start programming.
There are lots of great languages for starter programmers, but a lot of these languages don't have extensive lessons available for beginner programmers. If you're providing guidance or if the student is highly motivated, it's not a problem, but sometimes it's useful to have some lessons and exercises available. I created a website called Programming Basics that provides some basic but thorough tutorials for teaching JavaScript to beginner programmers.
I've actually created a website at http://www.programmingbasics.org/ for teaching simple programming to young kids using JavaScript. It targets a level below that of KPL but above that of c-jump. It's designed to be completely self-contained, so the website provides an IDE, an extensive set of illustrated lessons, and various programming activites. Many of the other educational programming systems that have been mentioned here are quite nice and powerful, but they often come with only very brief tutorials. If kids "get" the tutorial, then you're fine, but if not, then a more detailed set of lessons like those provided by my Programming Basics site might be useful.