Code Maven and programming for teens by Greg Linden.
From the post:
I recently launched Code Maven from Crunchzilla. It helps teens learn a little about what they can do if they learn more about programming.
A lot of teens are curious about programming these days, but don’t end up doing any. And, it’s true, if you are a teen who wants to learn programming, you either have to use tutorials, books, and classes made for adults (which have a heavy focus on syntax and are slow to let you do anything) or high level tools that let you build games but teach a specialized programming language you can’t use anywhere else. Maybe something else might be useful to help more teens get started and get interested.
Code Maven lets teens learn a little about how to program, starting with basic concepts such as loops then rapidly getting into fractals, animation, physics, and games. In every lesson, all the code is there — in some cases, a complete physics engine with gravity, frame rate, friction, and other code you can modify — and it is all live Javascript, so the impact of any change is immediate. It’s a fun way to explore what programming can do.
Code Maven is a curious blend of a game and a tutorial. Like a tutorial, it’s step-by-step, and there’s not-too-big, not-too-small challenges at each step. Like a game, it’s fun, addictive, and experimentation can yield exciting (and often very cool) results. I hope you and your friends like it. Please try Code Maven, tell your friends about it, and, if you have suggestions or feedback, please e-mail me at maven@crunchzilla.com
Greg is also responsible for Code Monster, appropriate for introducing programming to kids 9-14. Code Maven, teens, 13-18 plus adults.
Curious if you know of other projects of this type?
Suspect it is effective in part because of the immediate feedback. Not to mention effective authoring/creation of the interface!
Something you should share with others.
Reminds me of the reason OS vendors almost give away academic software. If a student knows “your” system and not another, which one has the easier learning curve when they leave school?
What does that suggest to you about promoting a semantic technology like topic maps?