How to turn a young schoolboy into an IT expert in a couple of evenings? The answer is obvious – no way. But! It is quite possible to interest, teach the basics of algorithmic thinking and give the joy of the first independent projects.

It was for this purpose that we launched an educational project for the children of our company’s employees. The task of this program is not to make a child a ready-made developer, but to awaken in him an interest in programming. The goal is to include “developmental” thinking, to awaken the desire to independently analyze, experiment, search for information and understand new things.

It is unlikely that I will surprise you with the statement that most children love constructors. It is the constructor principle that is the basis of the Scratch platform that we used for our classes. Only instead of conventional cubes, we have ready-made elements that the child can combine and modify, creating his own algorithms. No unknown foreign words, as in any programming language, but colored boxes with a clear purpose. One piece of code is connected to another, all this is put into a sequence of colorful elements on the screen, and our program comes to life, the specified actions are performed.

Importantly: the child does not write code in the traditional sense. He thinks in algorithms, learns to divide tasks into stages, find solutions and see the results of his actions.

How were the classes

A small disclaimer: this is a special, additional educational program. Do not worry, the children did not sit idly at the computers, they studied at home once a week (1 hour). Completion of homework and its demonstration in class is only optional, we strictly did not ask.

The project was conceived as an offline course for the children of our employees to introduce them to the IT field. We invited the boys to the office and worked out on the office machines. But then I had to adapt to the online format: Zoom, small groups (4-7 people aged 7-9, girls more than boys), work with the visual platform Scratch.

Of course, everything was a little easier offline: you can work individually with each child, help, give advice, and live communication is not comparable to virtual communication. There were also breaks when the children could get up from the table, jump and run. Online, we saw each other only through the screen, while not everyone had cameras, and it was difficult to understand whether the child was involved in the process.

We held 6 classes (one hour each with a small one). We started by mastering Zoom (not without the help of parents, of course), setting up and creating accounts. Then there was an introduction – the children talked about themselves, their hobbies, we – about what awaits them on the course. We analyzed the basic terms (what is a Sprite, where is the Scene), got acquainted with the Scratch interface and tools. Of course, it is impossible to cover all their diversity in 6 hours, so we focused on the most important, trying to interest the boys, to give them a base for further independent research.

Each lesson we moved from simple to complex. In the first lesson, the children controlled the funny cat – Scratch mascot – taught him to move, swim or walk, figured out the difference, changed his appearance. Gradually, the tasks became more difficult, we mastered new tools (events, sounds), figured out coordinates, learned to create more complex algorithms. By the way, the boys really liked the bank of ready-made Scratch projects – games and cartoons. It was a great motivation to learn and create something of your own.

Sometimes we had to improvise. For example, we expected the first lesson to take an hour, but the children completed it in 15 minutes. I had to quickly adjust the program, and prepare additional exercises for such a case in advance for the next classes. We made the second lesson much more detailed.

The children were different. Someone was already familiar with Scratch and was happy to show us their projects, someone was just starting his way in the world of programming. We tried to take these features into account, thought out the tasks so that everyone was interested, and no one sat idle. And I think we succeeded. During the project, we saw the children’s sincere dedication, their interest, and emotions. There was even a phrase: “Now it’s clear what dad does at work!” It was incredibly inspiring and motivating.

What we learned from teaching kids programming

For entry level Scratch is very good and I don’t know of any other alternative. It basically has everything to start programming from scratch, not only for a child, but also for an adult. But there is something that I would like to change in our classes in the future. If we were to start the project again, we would definitely divide the children into groups with the same level of training. After all, even within the same age category, the difference in knowledge and skills can be significant. We are all different – both in terms of age and character, as well as in mind and experience. A third-grader, like a sponge, immediately grasps everything, reads from the screen very quickly. A first-grader can still be shy, he can miss something and get lost among older, older boys. If the audience is diverse, the teacher has to maneuver, and there is a risk that for someone the program will turn out to be boring or, on the contrary, difficult, and someone will refuse to do something at all.

And finally, some recommendations for parents and companies who want to teach children to code:

• If possible, combine groups of children with the same level of training, so that everyone has an interesting and comfortable activity.

• Feedback is important. Find out the children’s opinion about the classes, adjust the program, taking into account their wishes and recommendations.

• Give everyone the opportunity to be a teacher and explain something to others.

• Believe in the child, let him understand that everything will work out for him. Well, the program, of course, should correspond to the level of training of the children: it should not be too complicated or too simple. Prepare backup versions of tasks in case you still miss the preliminary assessment of abilities and skills.

• Motivation and encouragement work wonders. Praise children for their successes, reward them for their efforts (stickers, stickers, badges, bonuses for activity), support their interest in cognitive activities.

• The participation and help of parents is invaluable. Especially at the initial stage, when children are just getting acquainted with the world of programming and may encounter difficulties.

Yes, we certainly didn’t make the guys programmers in 6 hours. But we managed to get them interested in the IT world, teach them to think logically, build algorithms, work in a team and find solutions, and that’s quite a lot.

For some, it became an opportunity to learn more about an already familiar field, while others discovered something new for themselves. We aimed to give the guys a basic set of knowledge that could possibly be a starting point for them to learn programming. Well, the ability to work in a team, clearly and competently formulate your thoughts will definitely come in handy not only in programming, but also in any sphere of life.