Java for computer science students and Python to teach programming skills for noncomputer science majors.

Other popular languages for teaching include MatLab, a mathematically oriented language often used to introduce scientists and engineers to programming. MatLab, however, seems to be increasingly supplanted by Java.

Collaboration also makes coding more fun. Group projects turn it into a social activity, which engages all students, including girls

e rules of pair programming are simple: Each pair of students must share a single computer. One student acts as the “driver” and takes control of the mouse and keyboard. One students is the navigator, whose responsibilities include checking instructions, reading code and finding errors as they occur.

ast year, three sixth grade girls decided to use Processing with Khan Academy’s JavaScript implementation to create a multi-page yearbook.

At primary level, it helps children to be articulate and think logically: when they start breaking down what’s happening, they can start predicting what’s going to happen. It’s about looking around you almost like an engineer at how things are constructed.”

But when you learn computing, you are thinking about thinking.

There are lots of transferable skills.”

algorithms

But they will also be creating and debugging simple programs of their own, developing logical reasoning skills and taking their first steps in using devices to “create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content”.

more complicated programs

variables and “sequence, selection, and repetition in programs

two or more programming language

mple Boolean logic (the AND, OR and NOT operators, for example), working with binary numbers, and studying how computer hardware and software work together.

computer and internet safety

Even if you’re daunted by programming as a subject, seeing it through the eyes of a child will hopefully make it much less intimidating.