KidCoder Series Computer Science for Kids!The KidCoder programming courses are designed for 4th-8th grade students looking for a fun, easy-to-learn, graphical programming environment. These self-study programming courses use the Visual Basic language which has an English-like, forgiving syntax. Your child's computer science education starts here!Students will use the Microsoft Visual Basic Express Edition development environment, which has a drag-and-drop interface for creating objects on the screen and automates many tedious programming chores. Students can focus on writing code to responds to events such as user button clicks. Visual Basic is widely used today in a variety of industrial and academic settings. The skills learned in these courses will not be thrown away as your student moves to more advanced topics! All students will learn how to think logically, evaluate expressions, make decisions, and appreciate what it takes to create the computer programs they use every day. Each chapter explains a concept in a step-by-step manner with sample code displayed throughout. Students will create the first part of their own programs side-by-side while walking through one of the lessons. At the end of each chapter the "Your Turn!" section asks the student to extend their program and demonstrate their understanding of the concepts. Hands-on Computer Programming Courses!The KidCoder series currently contains these individual courses. Each course is roughly one semester long depending on the student pace. Please click the links below for more information and ordering:Windows Programming (first semester) - build fundamental programming skills! Game Programming (second semester) - learn to write computer games! Package Deals! The KidCoder: Year Pack contains the full printed editions of both KidCoder: Windows Programming and Game Programming. Buy the Year Pack to obtain both semesters at a discount! Just add the KidCoder: Year Pack to your shopping cart instead of the individual courses. We have recently renamed the "KidCoder: Computer Programming" course to "KidCoder: Windows Programming". The material itself remains the same, but the new name better reflects the course contents. Prior purchasers of the "KidCoder: Computer Programming" course continue to be fully supported and do not need to re-purchase the new title! Self-Study Computer Education for Everyone!KidCoder coures are self-study and can be completed on the student's own computer, at their own pace. No teacher expertise required! The full textbook kits come with a Teacher's Edition and Teacher's disc containing the fully coded "Your Turn!" activity solutions. Most questions about how to code individual activities are easily answered by referring to the teacher's material (with or without parental involvement). We are also happy to answer questions about the courses!Teachers who wish to closely monitor and grade student progress for credit purposes can administer chapter tests which are provided (with answer keys) in the teacher's material. We also provide advice and guidelines for evaluating student activities. What skills do students need in advance? All of our courses assume the student is already familiar with using a keyboard and mouse to select and run programs, navigate application menu systems, and interact with the Windows operating system. Students should understand how to store and retrieve files on the hard disk and how to use Windows Explorer to navigate a file system and directory structures. It is helpful to also have some familiarity with text editors and using web browsers to find information on the Internet (though an Internet connection is not required after the initial download). We teach students how to program a computer from the ground up, but they should already know the basics about using one! |
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