Ask HN: As a coding teacher in middle / high school, which tools are you using?

I have been a teacher, tutor, and head of school clubs, as well as director of education for makerspaces.

The tools to focus on are THE FUNDAMENTALS. The fundamentals start with the framing - that means talking about Software Freedoms and our relationship with technology and society.

Then once the foundations are in place, the Free Tech starts to matter. Linux, Firefox, Devtools + html/js, Scratch etc.

Be sure you're clear on what your own goals are. Are you an entertainer, or an educator?

bachmitre · 5 years ago

Currently neither nor, but I used to teach unix systems administration in evening schools 20 years ago.. now I have children in middle / high school, and I wonder what tools are currently used in schools to teach programming

___luigi · 5 years ago

I'm not a teacher, but I heard good things about replit https://replit.com/teams-for-education

replwoacause · 5 years ago

But I just saw on the front page that their CEO just strongarmed a little open source guy so...that's a conundrum.

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ravanpao · 5 years ago

You should checkout Teaching Python Podcast run by two teachers teaching Python to middle school kids. https://www.teachingpython.fm/episodes

cjcassar · 5 years ago

I think codesandbox is quite good. I always find that one on ones are the best way to enhance the learning experience.

https://codesandbox.io/

ryanmentor · 5 years ago

ragnot · 5 years ago

Not a teacher, but its always good to start kids young on vim: https://vim-adventures.com/

schwartzworld · 5 years ago

I would focus on web technologies. Getting something on the screen with html and css is trivial, and JavaScript is very powerful.

Best of all, every computer has a built in JavaScript runtime (web browser). This makes it easy to share what you build with friends and family.

hulug · 5 years ago

As a "coding" teacher I would stop teaching how to "code" and start teaching how to think and solve problems.