Connected Code Why Children Need to Learn Programming

• Main Authors: Kafai, Yasmin Bettina, Burke, Quinn
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, Mass The MIT Press 18.07.2014; MIT Press
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Computer programming; Computer programming > Study and teaching (Secondary); Computers and children; Constructivism (Education); Education; Scratch (Computer program language); Study and teaching (Secondary); Technology
• ISBN: 0262027755; 9780262027755
• DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/9992.001.0001

Coding, once considered an arcane craft practiced by solitary techies, is now recognized by educators and theorists as a crucial skill, even a new literacy, for all children. Programming is often promoted in K-12 schools as a way to encourage "computational thinking" -- which has now become the umbrella term for understanding what computer science has to contribute to reasoning and communicating in an ever-increasingly digital world.InConnected Code,Yasmin Kafai and Quinn Burke argue that although computational thinking represents an excellent starting point, the broader conception of "computational participation" better captures the twenty-first-century reality. Computational participation moves beyond the individual to focus on wider social networks and a DIY culture of digital "making." Kafai and Burke describe contemporary examples of computational participation: students who code not for the sake of coding but to create games, stories, and animations to share; the emergence of youth programming communities; the practices and ethical challenges of remixing (rather than starting from scratch); and the move beyond stationary screens to programmable toys, tools, and textiles.