[Discuss] Encouraging Children to Explore Open Source

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey (blu))]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Chris O'Connell
> 
> Can anyone recommend any ways/programs/resources to encourage
> interest in
> Open Source to a kid of this age?

You don't need to encourage open source.  If you just encourage programming, then open source is a natural development all by itself.  Or closed source, whatever.  Either way is still a win, for a 9yr old or a 30 yr old.

I know I started with logo.  Give it some instructions, it draws a picture.  Some other kids and I tried to draw better pictures than each other.  Anything where you are instructing the computer to do something for you is indeed programming.  I graduated to programming basic.  Give it some instructions (a whole bunch of print statements) some stuff flies by, makes a cool looking quasi-animated tedious piece of junk entertainment piece.  Got the attention of all the other kids in class, who were just playing some dumb games.  

It's like learning to play guitar.  You learn something really basic, and somebody plays something for you created by somebody else, and asks you to try recreating it.  The thing to encourage is the creative aspect.  Make cool patterns and animations, try to mimick something somebody else did, a "simple guitar riff" that "sounds cool."

How do you program video games?  (Seriously, I'm out of touch, I don't know.)  Try flash / silverlight / whatever.  Go browse the zillion sites with games on them...  Ask kids what games they play online ... and find some that are simple to program, and show the kid how to make it.  Make it easy and fun, even if you're "programming" with a gui drawing pictures.  That counts.  Anybody remember hypercard?  That was a great way to introduce the kids in my class to programming.