What Happened When I Tried Teaching Coding to My Second Grader
We started with Entry, but surprisingly, my child gets stuck more on "thinking in sequence" than on coding concepts themselves.
For example, to move a character three spaces to the right, you need to attach three blocks, but my child wants it to go right all at once. So I explained, "If you walk it out yourself, you have to break it into one step at a time, right?" and they understood.
Right now we only do it twice a week for 30 minutes. If we go longer, they get bored. I'm not thinking about a coding academy yet; we're just approaching it like a game, focusing on fun.
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Twice a week for 30 minutes seems just about right. But I’m not so sure—the claim that “they get stuck on thinking in sequence rather than on coding concepts” isn’t really about coding at all, is it? It sounds more like a developmental stage thing. I think we first need to ask what the point even is of teaching coding to second graders.
For a second grader, even putting three blocks together can be a stretch lol. Getting them to understand it physically first is a really good approach. My kid started with ScratchJr, and that ended up being pretty similar. Once they grasp the concept of sequence, things pick up speed after that.