Interesting arguments from the CEO of Live Code. These two points are particularly interesting. The first is: What sits between Scratch, or Alice, or App Inventor, and professional-class languages like JavaScript or C++? I would put Python in there, but I still see that the Scratch->Python gap is a big one. The second paragraph is really striking, and I’d like to see more evidence. Does Israel’s great CS ed system lead to the strong start up culture, or is it because Israelis value technology that they have both a great start up culture and a great CS Ed system? Up to about age 13 there are some excellent tools in widespread use, most notable among them being the free and popular Scratch from MIT and MIT App Investor However students outgrow Scratch by around age 13 and schools often don’t make a good choice of language for the next phase in a child’s education. Many traditional programming languages such as JavaScript or C++ are completely inappropriate for this age group. Students struggle to understand what they are learning and often spend their lessons searching for a missing symbol. The current generation of students use smartphones and so selecting a tool that allows them to create their own apps is another great opportunity to make learning directly relevant to them. Our own Live Code platform provides a handy solution to these issues by allowing students to create their own mobile apps using a programming language that is close to English.
I firmly believe that a strengthening computer science education program has to be one of the most obvious and cost effective things we can do to ensure future economic prosperity. Israel has the highest rate of start up per ca pita anywhere and that in part stems from its strong computer science education program. Estonia, another country with both a strong tech sector and economy, recently announced a plan to expand teaching of computer science to all primary school children. Do we want to be left in the dust by these countries, or left unable to compete with the growing economies of India and China? What is it going to take to get computer science education moved up the agenda in the USA and here in the UK?
Deepa Singh
Business Developer
Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com
Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com
Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com
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