Teaching Kids Programming Using the Intentional Method

with The Intentional Method

@jellis_tkp

What is TKP?Global non-profit

• Founded by professional developers

• Co-founders have taught kids for over 8 years

Produces free, open source materials

• Programming courseware

• Teacher-training Materials

• For Kids ages 11-17

• Java and other languages

TKP In Action

Sample Class Video

Joyful Engagement

What is the

TKP Intentional Method?

English is translated into Code…one line at a time

Does the

TKP Intentional Method

work with other

programming

languages?

YES!

But we’ll focus on

TKP Java in this

talk…

TKP Java Core Principals

Free & Open

Source

Fun for Girls and Boys

Java with a customized

IDE

Implements XP technical

practices

Modular / Flexible

TKP Java Courses

1. Using Objects, Methods & For

Loops

2. Creating Methods

3. If statements

4. Code Mastery 5. Recursion6. Model View

Controller

7. Events8. Test Driven Development

Each Course has…

• 30 minutes Recipe

• 15-30 minutesRecap

• 30 minutesVariation

• 15 minutesQuiz

• 45 minutesDeep Dive

• 30 minutesWorksheet / Xtras

8 Courses * 3 hours = 24 weeks of courseware

Executing their 1st program within 2 minutes

1:Recipe

Executing their 1st program within 3 minutes

1: Recipe

1 line English = 1 verifiable line code

i.e. “code it”, then “run it”

1: Recipe

Guided Pair Programming

1: Recipe

Tools for Teachers -- Virtual Proctor

2: Recap

Making Mistakes on Purpose

2: Recap

Going Deeper –

Code and Tools

2: Recap

Discovering Patterns

Discovery

2: Recap

Mastering your (customized) IDE

2: Recap

Exploring what we did

Keyboard Shortcuts

3: Variation

Coding is Joy

3: Variation

You can do the same thing with different code

3: Variation

Learning as Guided Play

3: Variations

Ownership & Joy

3: Variation

Pride in Workload

4: Quiz

Self-graded, Learning Validation by Coding

4: Quiz

Teaching from the back of the room

4: Quiz

100% of pairs get 100% right

4: Quiz

Quizzes

are rewards

5: Deep Dive

5: Deep Dive

Group learning – Mob Programming

5: Deep Dive

Experiment, run and try (again)

exploration

6: Worksheet

7: Code & Lesson Plans

Future: Codenvy

Browser-based custom IDE – zero install!Codenvy IDE

TKP Courseware

• Java

• Microsoft SmallBasic

• Microsoft Kodu

• Relational Databases – Basic SQL Queries

Current

• Browser-based coding

• Codenvy IDE for TKP Java

• Modern Language – Python?

• Data Language

• Wolfram Language

• R Language

Future

Next Steps

Start Teaching

Get started

teaching

@LynnLangit