Computer programming will soon reach all Estonian schoolchildren - Polidicks

[quote]Estonian Tiger Leap Foundation in September 2012 launched a program called “ProgeTiiger”, in the framework of which Estonian students in grades 1 to 12 will be introduced computer programming and creating web and mobile applications. “The interest of students towards using modern technologies has grown year after year. With the “ProgeTiiger” program we create prerequisites for students to develop from consumers of software to developers of software,” said Tiger Leap Foundation training sphere manager Ave Lauringson. In the first stage, the program concerns pilot schools, in the following years all public schools can join if they want to become part of the “ProgeTiiger” program. The first ones to start with “ProgeTiiger” program lessons will be primary school students after their teachers go through corresponding training in September. Next year, programming hobby groups for middle school and selective courses for high school will be added. Study materials for all levels are being created. Tiger Leap Foundation’s initiative is supported by technology sphere companies. Estonian Tiger Leap Foundation decided to start this project because they saw how many companies struggle to find decent programmers. This new program is expected to bring Estonia in front of the rest of the Eastern Europe in terms of IT development and growth. Estonia is famous for Skype since it was developed by Estonian programmers and was run by Estonians, until recently was sold to Microsoft for a whopping $8.5 billion in cash. Estonia has one of the fastest internet connections in the world, which have allowed to grow companies like Skype and Playtech. Back in 1997 Estonia decided to invest heavily in development and expansion of computer and network infrastructure and now they have gone even further by introducing programming to elementary school. Does it means that Estonia becomes the first country in the world to teach programming for first graders?[/quote] [url=http://ubuntulife.net/computer-programming-for-all-estonian-schoolchildren/]Source[/url]

Bestonia

Woohoo, but I am in the 8th grade, not first :c Our schools gymnasium had programming for a while, but the gymnasium part is gone now.

well it isn't for everyone

[QUOTE=Amiga OS;37552557]Its about time the UK starts this too. The entire curriculum currently spans nothing more than fucking with Microsoft Office.[/QUOTE] The current curriculum is based around IT for business, which is actually very useful. More needs to be done on the programming though.

I don't think we need kids to know programming as much as they need to know shell scripting and using a command line. Extremely powerful tools, which actually have real life uses. I have many scripts used for my photography workflow. Unfortunately, Windows' command line is a royal bitch.

And here in the United States there are no mandatory computer classes. Cue slow clap

[QUOTE=ewitwins;37552617]And here in the United States there are no mandatory computer classes. Cue slow clap[/QUOTE] >americans clapping Also, it sort of sucks that there is very little computer programming in the US curriculum. As a result of this, I have to take time out of my day to learn it by myself in a situation where I have no feedback or spend thousands on college.

I'm in tenth grade and the year before I took an introductory class and this year I'm going into java extensively. Before that all we learned to do was punch numbers into excel and create powerpoints.

I'm in 12th and final grade over here and they decide to roll it out just now. I'm kinda jelly, since that's exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to do as a child, but then I realize that I'm going to Uni to learn actual programming next year and life seems better.

I'm sitting in my COP 2220 class right now, knowing that I could have learned half of this C programming shit the second I learned what math and parenthesis were. I definitely could have started doing this when I was like 10 or 11. Sadly, I'm 19 and paying money to do it at a university now.

[QUOTE=Amiga OS;37552733][IMG]http://blog.srinivasan.biz/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/scratch1.png[/IMG] It kind of is. You don't even need to teach a programming language to begin with, just programming concepts. Logical operators, comparisons etc. Then move onto something visual like scratch and let students implement these concepts into a real working program.[/QUOTE] the purpose of the education is to teach children basic life skills, logical thinking, all that jazz. Career training shouldn't be an objective. While programming can be used to teach logical thinking and that stuff, it seems like this program is designed for a more commercial, job-training purpose. I'd prefer for it to be a hobby group like described in the article that provides opportunities to people who are interested instead of trying to force everyone into a job track. It's sort of like the stupid "economic education or business education" provided in some US schools. Job training is happening too soon. btw I currently work as a programmer, and participated in FIRST robotics competitions. That sort of thing is the proper approach to technology education imo, provide opportunities to those who are interested but don't force it onto those who are not. [editline]5th September 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Jookia;37552596]I don't think we need kids to know programming as much as they need to know shell scripting and using a command line. Extremely powerful tools, which actually have real life uses. I have many scripts used for my photography workflow. Unfortunately, Windows' command line is a royal bitch.[/QUOTE] I don't think any of my teachers know how to use powershell, save the tech-ed teachers. Good luck with that.

our children will make games and korean children will get rich playing them!

Fuck yeah, proud to be Estonian.

[QUOTE=NotMeh;37553327]Fuck yeah, proud to be Estonian.[/QUOTE] e-stonia

Not sure how I feel about this. I like having programming be an exclusive club that you have to have a real passion to be a part of.

[QUOTE=Amiga OS;37552604]The current curriculum is word processing, nothing more. Its a fucking embarrassment compared to what the UK used to have. Remember the BBC micro?[/QUOTE] As a child in the school system I can confirm this. All we really have to do is google something and then write it in our own words on a powerpoint/word/excel document.

Funny how I found out about it on English news site, not Estonian one.

[QUOTE=ewitwins;37552617]And here in the United States there are no mandatory computer classes. Cue slow clap[/QUOTE] What? My middle and high school required that you have 1 technology credit. The two computer courses I took were Computer Sciences (aka we had to actually learn shit like HTML) and Multimedia.

[QUOTE=absolalone111;37553449]As a child in the school system I can confirm this. All we really have to do is google something and then write it in our own words on a powerpoint/word/excel document.[/QUOTE] Me too. Middle school was all about finishing the word/excel task and surfing the internet for the rest of the lesson. Gymnasium doesn't have anything computer related at all (Might have changed, I don't know a lot about the new system).

[QUOTE=NotMeh;37553573]Me too. Middle school was all about finishing the word/excel task and surfing the internet for the rest of the lesson. Gymnasium doesn't have anything computer related at all (Might have changed, I don't know a lot about the new system).[/QUOTE] Depends on the school, but so far all we have is like one hour of computer science a week and that's all.

Here at my school the only class that includes programming is the "Introduction to Information Technology" class, and it includes "software applications installation" and "customer support" We have a "Bioethics" class, why can't we get a programming one :v:

If that came here I feel that about 10% would care and 5% would actually be good at it eh

Eeshton if your reading this your fucking lucky

[QUOTE=darkzero226;37553561]What? My middle and high school required that you have 1 technology credit. The two computer courses I took were Computer Sciences (aka we had to actually learn shit like HTML) and Multimedia.[/QUOTE] Every school is different. I needed a technology course for my school, but they counted things like automotive and woodworking as technology. There's a term for it that I forget.

[QUOTE=DaysBefore;37554445]Every school is different. I needed a technology course for my school, but they counted things like automotive and woodworking as technology. There's a term for it that I forget.[/QUOTE] ~practical arts~

[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37554493]~practical arts~[/QUOTE] Something along those lines.

forcing kids to do stuff is OK if its stuff i like!!!!!!!1

[QUOTE=Bobie;37554799]forcing kids to do stuff is OK if its stuff i like!!!!!!!1[/QUOTE] Yeah. We should totally just let children sit around all day doing nothing education is a good thing and there is no arguing about that

[QUOTE=Amiga OS;37552733][img]http://blog.srinivasan.biz/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/scratch1.png[/img] It kind of is. You don't even need to teach a programming language to begin with, just programming concepts. Logical operators, comparisons etc. Then move onto something visual like scratch and let students implement these concepts into a real working program.[/QUOTE] I fucking loved scratch when I was younger, it kind of motivated me to move onto Java and other, harder languages. They actually did it in IT class once, I like a bit of a boss making cool shit when everyone else made pictures of bears spin for a few seconds.