Programming Class for Elementary School Children

How Colorful Turtles Learn to Walk

13. August 2007

During the second week of August a group of elementary school students made the otherwise deserted CAB come alive. The 25 children were taught the basics of programming in five afternoon sessions by using the "Logo" programming language which has been developed to suit children.

By Katja Abrahams

Playful Introduction to the World of Programming

"Turty, you’re supposed to walk a square not a zigzag course, you funny creature", nine year old Sandro chuckles. One of the patient assistants comes running and helps Sandro get the turtle to do what it is supposed to.

The challenge posed by the programming language Logo consists of entering commands such that the turtles path describes geometrical figures such as stairs circles, even snowflakes and mandalas. The course gives children a playful first impression of programming und teaches them to plan a sequence of commands and think logically.

The visitors work in teams of two and even eight-year-olds use the computers with amazing ease. "One gets the impression that children are nowadays born with a keyboard. Only a few years back there’s no way an elementary school student would have been as apt with computers as children are today" course instruction Giovanni Serafini of the Chair for Information Technology and Education recounts.

All in Their Own Good Time

Linus, 9, is already quite a pro and considers himself "a person interested in computers". He downloaded Logo at home on the very first day of the course and is a little ahead of the others regarding the exercises. He easily skipped the fourth lesson, in which the drawing of regular polygons and circles is taught, and started programming with parameters which was the topic of the subsequent lesson. He has his own methods and is well aware that there are usually several ways to approach a problem. "At the end you must write end, then we can run the program and see if it works", he explains to his friend Patrick. Of course, he also found out that there is the possibility of using a firered dragon instead of the turtle to draw the geometrical object.

Hugo, 8, is allowed to spend about one hour per day at the computer. He prefers "filled" geometrical patterns such as flowers and mandalas. He also know the English commads: "Lt stands for left turn, which means the turtle should turn and go left", he comments. The 10 year old Noema – one of the few girls in the course – and her team partner, on the other side, are still having a few difficulties spelling "repeat" correctly. But after several attempts, they get it right and Noema says with a bright smile "Now, I’ve got it".

Establishing Computer Science at Schools

Computer science will be introduced as a complementary course in high school, however, it is a long way from becoming a regular subject. People at the Chair for Information Technology and Education have long realized that even very young children are able to grasp the basic principles of programming since they are unprejudiced and highly motivated. Juraj Hromkovic, a professor in computer science, who called the "Open Class" lectures into existence, holds regular programming courses for elementary students and teaches computer science at high school. In addition, he is currently writing several books for school teaching, among them one on programming in Logo for elementary school students.

A Diploma to Round Things Off

The last afternoon of the course week is reserved for giving away the prizes to the winners of the previous days’ competition. The three winning teams were all given memory sticks. But since participation is the most important thing, everyone receives a small gift: next to a book and ETH biros every participant was given a pretty diploma signed by Prof. Hromkovic.

Course instructor Serafini was very happy with how the course went and would like to offer a programming course of similar scope again next summer: "The holiday program is an important channel for us for reaching children from different schools. In view of the excitement and motivation of our little students I can well imagine that they will pass their enthusiasm on to their class mates".

For further information on the offerings of the Chair of Information Technology and Education please see: http://www.ite.ethz.ch/kids/index