We recommend starting to introduce coding concepts to children at age 8 or 9. At this age, children are developmentally ready to begin learning the foundational concepts of coding, such as those listed in Chapter 5. We would note that the age at which a child is ready to learn to code can vary, depending on the child’s individual skills and interests. We have many students ages 6 to 7 who do very well in the block based coding languages like Scratch. In our view it very much depends on a child’s reading level. Ideally you are reading at a grade level 2 or 3.
Reading Level is the Key
Reading level is the key measure of when a student is ready to start to code, even with visual programming languages. There are many interactive resources available, such as games and puzzles that claim to help young learners learn to code. This is nonsense, with one exception which is CodeSpark, a mobile application focused on building computational thinking skills. The rest of the apps in the market are really for “play”, even if they claim to “teach kids to code”. Do not expect any real learning outcomes as student’s below age 6 do not have the level of physical brain development to think at the level of abstraction that is required. Let them go shoot baskets or work on the development of their motor skills. They have plenty of time to learn to code.
Reading Level is the Key
Reading level is the key measure of when a student is ready to start to code, even with visual programming languages. There are many interactive resources available, such as games and puzzles that claim to help young learners learn to code. This is nonsense, with one exception which is CodeSpark, a mobile application focused on building computational thinking skills. The rest of the apps in the market are really for “play”, even if they claim to “teach kids to code”. Do not expect any real learning outcomes as student’s below age 6 do not have the level of physical brain development to think at the level of abstraction that is required. Let them go shoot baskets or work on the development of their motor skills. They have plenty of time to learn to code.
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